The Dark Internet
by VanillaSpiders
Summary: A dark Internet refers to any unreachable network hosts on the Internet. Failures within that portion of Internet resources due to the Internet's chaotic tendencies of growth and decay. Speaking of growth and decay, there's still Freakazoid to think about in all this. He is after all, a part of the Internet, right? Just because you win a battle does not mean you win the war.
1. It Went a Little Like This

**Author's Note: The start of Freak and Dex's new adventure, enjoy!**

_Chapter 1 'It Went a Little Like This' _

"_Chances lost are hopes torn up pages, maybe this time. __**Chances are we´ll be the combination**__, chances come and carry me…" _–Five for Fighting

It was a beautiful summer night and Dexter Douglas was sleeping.

Well, sort of.

On the outside in the 'real world' what he was doing was lying in his bed in his dark room, on his back, quite still. His eyes were closed; he did not toss and turn. He breathed in the gentle summer air that trickled into his bedroom from his open window as he lay there. The lights were off, even his computer. His body was in 'sleep mode.'

A portion of his brain however, was most certainly not.

Deep within the portion of Dexter's shared conscious a game was being played.

"F-Freakazoid," It was hard to talk around his laughter, "H-how did you manage to get Luigi through _that_ tunnel?"

"Dexxy, he's a plumber, where's he supposed to go?" The super hero next to him blinked as the little pixel man surged above ground and stomped on an enemy before it could reach Mario way at the other end of the screen.

"Freak, this isn't even part of the game—you're adding things again." Dexter laughter softened as he smacked a button and jumped Mario over an angry turtle.

"Oh, am I? My bad Dex—" Luigi spit a fireball at a monstrous plant and Freak grimaced. "…I keep getting my wires crossed about stuff in this game…uhm, what else is wrong?" The game started fixing itself. Dexter breathed a sigh of relief as Mario could finally cross the blocks and couldn't walk on lava again—that had been startling the first time that solid ground had killed him. Why Freak thought lava was safer than stone Dex would know. He wasn't sure he wanted too.

"Nothing else yet, really, it's funny though, some of the things the internet is telling you is right about Super Mario Bros." Dexter chuckled as Mario sprinted for a leaf and turned in a raccoon or something. At least Freak had programmed that part right, phew! Dex wasn't sure he could take many more surprises. "I'm just amazed you got the tv to stop playing Rat Patrol for once…and that you managed to make a _Nintendo_ and two controllers appear." The geek admitted with a small smile toward the game console sitting before them. The tv beeped cheerfully in answer.

"I know right? Aren't you proud of me!" Freakazoid beamed, the lightning bolts in his hair shimmering just a bit in the dim light of the Freakazone. "Gee this is fun though, even if it's not TOTALLY right." Freak leaned a little into the small body right next to them, their knees touching. Dexter leaned right back after a second, eyes still focused on the game.

"Wah, Freak, watch out for that—"

"I got it Dexxy…oh hey question mark boxes! Yay!" Freak's fingers flew over the buttons, any problems and glitches in the game forgotten as they progressed further into the level.

Dexter blinked. "…Okay I'm pretty sure Luigi doesn't turn into a little pixel version of _you_ when he eats a mushroom." But Dexter was laughing as he said it, and when he tried getting Mario to eat a mushroom—yep, sure enough, there was an 8-bit Dexter scampering across the screen.

Freak was grinning at the screen—he was doing **that** on purpose, Dexter realized. This was Freak's _own_ designs coming into play, his limitless powers and connection with the internet in the quiet of the Freakazone had caused the game, which Freak had built from scratch, to do whatever the hell Freak wanted it too. It was kind of amazing, if not a little weird from Dexter's point of view.

Still…this _was_ a lot of fun Dexter had to admit.

He was in the process of pushing his glasses back up his nose as the next level loaded when Freak started babbling about everything ranging from South Park's next episode to how much rice there was in China.

"Freak I'm pretty sure the Chinese don't keep their rice in a vault, then they couldn't eat it." The geek pointed out as Luigi picked him up and tossed him in the air so Mario could reach those few extra coins. Freak seemed to take great consideration in Dexter's words for a moment.

"Oh…well in that case maybe next time I'm on patrol I'll head over there and see….oh oh and I can stop to Mexico and pick up yummy _tacos_ Dexxy! How bout that?"

Dex's lips twitched. He couldn't resist, "And will you pick up churros?" Freak lit up and ooed at such a suggestion.

"_WILL I!"_

Dexter laughed.

_**F!**_

Far across the world, but not as far as China or even Mexico, there was a problem.

The power was out.

But not entirely. It was…spastic power surges, it was erratic, dangerous…and it was a little bit freaky because there was no reason for such things.

Roddy MacStew stood in the middle of the dark ended Apex factory next to the PC that still had its internet hooked up. Normally this wouldn't be possible since there was nothing for him to use as a gateway—but he'd made it just in time, and with a little boost from his own supply he'd managed to keep the power on long enough to enter the site before the rolling black outs had grabbed everything.

There was something wrong with the Internet.

Something…to do with Apex industries? Or…no?

A sudden screen lit up to his right, and the Scotsman's attention was called to the chat box on the monitor that had appeared. He walked over and peered at the bright screen amidst the black.

"Aye, sure as a snail hates salt, you'be guessing correctly...but it sure came upon us fast." He said to the computer's built in microphone, not bothering to type.

A pause. Another ding.

Roddy's eyes narrowed. He sighed and hung his head for a second, thinking over their options, because he just didn't feel right with the one presented to them. It seemed unfair and too soon…

"So quickly though? Shouldn't we be given the lads some rest, at the very least Dexter? He's still not up to snuff from what I been seeing—"

DING! So quickly and _insistent_.

"…Alright, alright. I suppose yew would know best, when it comes to those two, aye…you're responsible for one half of 'em anyway…" The man sighed and rubbed his temples. "We haven't a choice no more, dew we?"

The chat box vanished as his answer, the history cleared and the pc screen light up like the fourth of July—but before anyone or anything could take notice of the action, Roddy had already folded into something more or less resembling electricity and had shot through the screen and vanished.

The room went black again as the monitor turned off on itself, and it was like no one had been there at all.

_**F!**_

Freak honestly couldn't think of any better way to spend time with his other half, well yes he could actually but it was no longer possible, and anyway Dex kept reminding him not to dwell because it was bad for him or, or something. He didn't want Freakazoid to be stressed over the past, Dexxy admitted one night when Freak's regretful thoughts had become too loud for Dexter _not_ to hear. After that, Dex had started spending at least two hours in this state, body sleeping and mind within in the Freakazone. God his human was so nice and sweet.

Dexter was right here, and everything was alright with the world, right? Right.

"This is really fun Freakazoid, thanks again for suggesting this." Dex commented as they played.

A bomb creature had been set off next to them on screen. Luigi picked up Mario and tossed him far away as it exploded, and Luigi lost a life. Dexter's brow furrowed, it was adorable.

"Freak you didn't have too—"

"I wanted too." The hero grinned.

The geek's face smoothed into a tiny lopsided smile. "Okay, thanks."

"Mhh-hm."

"…at least this time I won't fall asleep on you like the last couple of times." And therein laid the reason Freak had spent the last two days trying to coax his own mind into creating a video game from scratch with information he'd collected off the internet. Dexxy spent so much time sleeping already, his body recuperating much slower than Freak's had, (the worse Freak had was sore muscles, probably from the sudden electricity surging through them constantly, but even that had worn away after a day or so.) It seemed the Chip had mended the broken things together within the geek's body, but hadn't been able to fully heal them. Dex was going to do that all on his own. And god it felt like it was taking forever…at least summer vacation had hit, Dex could afford to sleep most of the day away.

Still…he was here, and he was breathing, and his heart was beating, (Freak knew this, he knew this because sometimes when Dexter was so deeply asleep he'd centralized the Freakazone around the pulse of Dexter's heart and just sat there and listened to it.) and maybe Dexter was right, (he usually was) maybe Freak WAS agonizing over certain things a little too long but, but he couldn't help it!

Freak blinked and sent Luigi over a stack of bricks and followed after Mario toward the flag pole.

"Diing! The coast is CLEAR!" The screen read happily, Dexter grinned and looked over to him. "We did it!" this had been the longest, hardest level yet. Freak would have to work on that bug, it was only the second world and it had taken them almost two and a half hours to reach it.

"We sure did Dex!"

"This really is great Freak, thank you, for doing this, it's almost like—" Dex blinked and stopped himself sheepishly, Freak could tell he felt bad for dredging up old memories that should have been fond but…but Freak's mind took over the rest of the sentence before he could realize it.

"Like before? When we got to spend time together out…out there…" Freak's eyes flicked for a moment as his voice trailed oddly off, and that made Dex pause the game for a second, looking over at his alter ego.

"…Freak? You…okay?" The boy's voice softened. Freak turned to look at him then, staring into Dexter's heterochromatic eyes as they stared worriedly back.

His 'battle scar.' From...That Time.

It didn't seem _fair_; Freak's face fell into a frown without him knowing, his mask stretching down. Freakazoid didn't have, have anything like that. They'd saved the world from, from themselves and Dex had to be carried away from the wreckage because of how beat up he got, mentally and physically. His own eyes were still one color, not blue and brown like Dexter's. Was it because Dexter was the host, and Freak was the…the parasite?

A thin hand rested gently on Freak's bicep, Dex's small smile was encouraging.

"It's okay, Freakaziod. You're okay."

Freak swallowed, and let out a shaky sigh, lips twitching into a tiny smile. "…you too, right?" Because the following days after Dex just hadn't been himself…hell, he was still under weight and looked exhausted in the real world—Freak has suspicious that Dex was only appearing to look healthy in their shared mind because he knew it would help Freak focus better. God, his little geek was so sweet.

"Yeah, me too." Dexter nodded once, seriously. "I'm okay too."

The high buzz that trailed forever around his body slowed a little in Freakazoid, the same effect like when humans sank into steamy warm baths…he relaxed.

"'Kay Dexxy."

Freak watched him glance back at the Freakazone's tv, and then back to him with a tiny smile, his face illuminated by the glow of the box and highlighting his somewhat hollow cheek bones, the way his shoulder hunched over his small frame. Dexter's exhaustion and paleness was due to the strain splitting and rejoining had been on him, Roddy had said. His doctor had said it was just hormones and perhaps Dexter was getting ready for a growth spurt. Roddy had rolled his eyes and snorted. At least this point Dexter was better than he was a few weeks ago, he could hardly walk without having to rest every few moments back then.

God he was still so little, still so fragile, if it weren't for the slightly minor fact Freak could no longer touch him in the physical plane, he'd pull his geek into his lap and wrap his arms around Dexter and never ever let go again, keep him safe.

"Well it's…it's almost one I think Freak…I'd better get going." Dex suddenly murmured quietly, though he didn't stand up. Freak sensed his boy's hesitance and while it made his heart swell, because he could also tell Dexxy was thinking of staying because of Freak's actions a moment ago, Freak knew even better his boy needed sleep. All humans need sleep, and that's what Dexter was. Freak was the computer bug over here, he'd be fine.

"Unless you need…." Dex was still hesitance to say 'me' to actually hope to believe someone needed him as badly as Freak. Ah well, Freak would work on fixing _that_ bug too.

"Dexxy I always need you, but you need sleep more, okay? I'll be right here."

"…you sure?"

"Yeah…now go get some sleep partner." He'd started using that last word more and more lately, more and more affectionately. Well it was true—they'd learned the hard way they just couldn't function very well separately, to Freakazoid there was no one but him for Dexter Douglas, he'd listen to the boy no matter what.

Because loosing Dexter, watching him die—because yes the tiny geek was alive and moving now but _God_ Freak had felt his _heart_ stop, that's not something you get over, even if your world does come back to life—it had…had been his fault. If he'd listened to the way the boy was unsure and hesitant to send him back to his mind only a couple hours before, he could have soothed his boy's thoughts before they were lying half dead on a building in the middle of Washington's biggest electrical storm.

But now…well now it was behind them. Freak was a big believer in put your past behind you—mostly because sometimes he couldn't remember enough about the past that he kept looking toward the future and growing, like the Internet was—but this was something he couldn't forget, and he didn't want to. It was the only way to learn from his mistake, right? Right.

So he'd keep being a superhero. But he'd keep. Dexter. Safe. If it was the last thing he did.

"…Freak?" The superhero blinked from his thoughts and looked up to Dexter standing just in front of him. Oh….had Dexter heard that?

The geek chuckled softly. "No, but I heard THAT." The link had been repaired better than ever it seemed, and Dex's own growing telepathy had strengthened it further on his end.

"Sorry Dexxy, just, just thinking. About stuff." He clarified, setting his controller on the coffee table before them, and when Dexter did the same the Nintendo console vanished from the screen and from the table. Freak's mind shifted lightly and noiselessly…and then suddenly an opening scene of Rat Patrol was playing.

Freak light up, momentarily distracted, and missed Dex's fond head shake as he patted Freak's shoulder and prepared to leave to his own side of their brain.

"…g'night, Freak." He waved a thin hand, and Freak made sure not to think too long on how the boy's large over shirt looked even more sloppy than usual settled around his thin frame. Dexter couldn't hide anything from him, no matter how many illusions he tried to put up in their shared mind. Freak could see Dex in the mirror every time the boy looked.

"Night Dexxy." He chirped back as his other half receded slowly…and was gone.

The Freakazoid leaned back on his couch and stared at the closed windows of Dexter's eyes across the room. He let his eyes close, but sleep did not come. It never did. The soft hum of his high voltage thoughts started up again, but Freak paid them no notice for once.

Dexter's mind began follow its body's example and started to shut down, dropping into its own type of sleep mode. Freakazoid's part of their brain curled around his and waited contently until morning, nuzzling close and cushioning Dexter's dreams, so that his geek thought of only happy images and wonderful thoughts.

Computer glitches don't sleep, after all.


	2. But Glitches Do Not Dream

**Author's Notes: I have no excuse for this taking so long. But have at it, I'll keep writing this no matter how long it takes, I promise.**

Chapter 2 'But…Glitches Don't Dream'

"_Without you there's no reason for my story, and when I'm with you I can always act the same." -_Anarbor

A few eventless days later, it was 3 am and Freakazoid was having a dream.

Now, if you've been paying any attention at all you'd know just how weird, odd and possibly _wrong_ this was for the super teen extraordinaire. Because Freakazoid, as a computer program housed in a human brain, didn't really sleep. Even if he could get the internet in him to shut the hell up long enough to let him rest, he never really felt tired or sleepy in the first place. He simply kept on running, day and night, drank coffee only for the taste of it, and never really understood what NyQuil was for.

So, as a being that didn't sleep, it was beyond strange, even for _him, _to be dreaming.

But he most certainly _was_ dreaming, everything was in place except for the fact he was one hundred and ten percent awake, staring at the ceiling of the Freakazone as images flickered behind eyes like video clips, complete with sound. It all felt oddly familiar, like watching a movie he'd seen a thousand times over, like a memor-wait. Maybe….maybe that's what he was doing.

Not dreaming but…remembering?

Huh. Funny, he didn't remember going into his files and digging up old recordings. That was the sort of thing that generally required a conscious effort, not to mention knowledge of where to look and what to look for. Yet for some reason Freakazoid was lying stretched out on the Freakazone's couch, boots crossed and hands behind his head and….not doing much of anything. Just thinking. Now, seeing.

Admittedly what he was seeing was jumbled, voices came through at him, yelping, crying, gasping-yelling. Terror filled his system and he didn't even know why. Someone called for someone, him? Was he being called or was he doing the calling? Oh God he didn't know! Who needed him? Who did he need? He was a super hero for Heaven's sake, who would _he_ ever need to help _him_-

Blood suddenly flew past his face in a wet sticky splatter, and Freakazoid reeled back in raw horror, his mouth opened to cry out because somehow he instantly knew that this blood-this blood was, belonged too-

"_**DEXTER!" **_

The memory stopped playing, complete with the bzzt noise a VHS makes when it's paused too fast.

And the Freakazoid was left sitting up on his couch, panting and shaking and mind going a mile a minute. To be fair that's what it always did (he was the Freakazoid, after all. He never slowed down.) But this time it was different and dangerous and Freakazoid didn't like it, he didn't like it at all. He got to his feet and looked around, noting that the Freakazone was dark. Nothing was working, his microwave which read the time but never actually microwaved anything was blinking 12:00 eerily. It wasn't…that time, he realized dimly, unconsciously tapping into the net, confirming the true time to be 3:12 am as he shifted uneasily in his boots.

He needed…he needed…

So Freakazoid, in his state of mild terror and panic, swiftly exited the Freakazone and without thinking headed for the second dearest place in the world to him-Dexter's mind. Almost immediately upon entering, standing there in the spaciousness of his partner's brain, the superhero took a breath and felt himself starting to unwind. It was hard not to with Dexxy's amazing, reassuring presence humming softly all around him.

Dexter Douglas' mind was a very special place after all.

Imagine you were on the highest mountain in the world, and it was night time, and you were standing there looking up and out, with all the earth spread out below you and the stars stretching out overhead. Suddenly you find yourself feeling so very small and insignificant in the midst of it all, simply a speck on the speck of another speck.

When he stood in Dexter Douglas' mind, that's how Freakazoid felt, the smallest speck. This was the only place on earth, even in the internet, where he felt like this.

It was grounding and jaw dropping, but it did make sense. Dexter was not like any other person on the planet who'd activated one of the Pinnacle Chip's flaws. Roddy and Gutierrez were good examples of this. Neither of _them_ had a literal other thing in their minds-computerized superhero or no, that just wasn't what had happened to the two. Dexter was…special. Different. On the outside most people (these people not being anyone named Freakazoid) looked at Dexter and only saw a timid, meek little computer geek who had better luck with monitors and cats then he did socializing or, god forbid, lifting something heavier than five pounds. They thought Dexter was useless unless someone needed help with a computer and didn't want to pay an IT technician.

That's how Dexter saw himself too, unfortunately.

But Freakazoid had been the one to see him throw a car around using his telekinesis during a mere practice session with Roddy. Seeing that and then seeing the mental capacity Dexter _actually_ had? It all made sense to Freakazoid. Dexter's brain was an amazing thing; it had to be, to house the one and only Freakazoid.

When he'd first entered the boy's brain and had made himself at home that fateful Christmas, Freakazoid had found himself stunned and awed at the size of his new companion's mind. It was amazing! Something so thin with no muscles and tape wrapped around his glasses-all THIS was in THAT body?! Zoids!

Somehow, that's how Freakazoid had known he was home, that this was where he belonged, in Dexter's Douglas' mind. He had a feeling, and time showed this hunch to be true, that while there were many large strong capable minds and hearts out in the world, none were quite like his Dexter's.

And Freakazoid was okay with that. He didn't want anyone else but Dexxy to snuggle his mental self up too anymore. Having tasted such brilliance and vastness, he couldn't even consider accepting anyone else. This mind was _his, _to cherish and protect. It was huge and strong but oh-so gentle, and the chaotic internet that was the very essence of Freakazoid felt oddly content to swirl around inside it as needed. Dexter…kept him in line.

Dexter was his everything.

The hero paused before a simple wooden door with his boy's name etched into the wood in a very neat font. He considered knocking, but wasn't sure if he wanted to wake poor Dexxy from his sleep, sleep that he so obviously needed…oh, nutbunnies.

"Dexter…?" Freak called softly, reaching for the knob. It gave way to his touch grudgingly but without even a squeak from the hinges. "Dexxy?" The hero bit his lip and poked his head in. Now that he was actually here, the feeling of being scared from, from a silly thing he wasn't even supposed to be _capable_ of having in the first place was starting to catch up to him and he felt…foolish. Sheepish even. He shouldn't wake Dexxy up for this, right?

But…he could still hear that shrill, desperate cry for help.

"Hey, Dexter? …Buddy?"

That did it. Dexter was a light sleeper when he wanted to be, when he had something on his mind. The boy in the single bed sat up slowly and rubbed an eye, glancing first at the only other thing in the room, a computer in sleep mode that was wearily showing the log in page from it's place on top a simple wooden desk. Realising that wasn't what had woken him Dexter blinked and looked round the rest of the room, finally spotting his alter ego hovering by the door.

"Uh…hey Freak."

Freakazoid felt himself relax at that gentle if confused voice and hurried over to his side.

_**F!**_

To say Dexter was confused would be the understatement of the year.

He had just been woken up out of a (thankfully) dreamless sleep. Freakazoid might know about his dreams of a certain blonde they both knew and loved, but that didn't mean he wanted said dreams to be broadcasted all over their shared mind!

Fortunately it seemed like Dexter's dreams and their subjects were far from Freak's mind as the hero slunk into the, the 'Dexterzone' for lack of a better word. The computerized teen glanced away from Dex sheepishly but his body stepped forward, till his knees hit the side of the bed and, oh-

Freak wouldn't come here in the middle of the night for no reason.

The little geek and blinked and, moved by some inner instinct, sat up in bed and held his arms out slowly. Freak blinked back at him at the gesture, then his lips quirked up into a tiny smile and he leaned over obediently for a brief hug, his strong arms gripping Dex very briefly and carefully, before pulling back and looking embarrassedly at the floor.

"Freakazioid?" Dexter asked, his own voice soft in the vast silence of their brain. He noticed vaguely Freak's high-wired mind was very quiet for once almost…withdrawn.

"I….I think I had a nightmare." Freak finally admitted softly

Dexter blinked. "…Oh." His brows furrowed and suddenly he was shifting in bed, moving away from Freakazoid, who's mouth fell open at the move, heart sinking as Dexter pulled away…

And then a thin hand patted the space beside the boy that had opened up.

It was Freakazoid's turn to stare.

"It's okay." Dexter coaxed gently when the hero didn't move. "It's okay, Freakazoid, nightmares aren't real, right?"

Of course Dexter was blissfully unaware that what Freak had relived, not dreamed, (dreams were fake, memories were not) was a memory horrific enough that the only way to describe it WAS a nightmare. The brown haired boy simply watched Freak with big brown eyes and a soft smile Freakazoid took solace in without even noticing it.

"...Yeah, right."

"Do you want to talk about?" Dex asked softly.

"I…not really Dexxy."

The boy just nodded sympathetically and moved over more as Freakazoid finally kicked a neuron into gear, and clambered onto Dex's small bed, resting his back uneasily against the head board. Dex lay down next to him and buried his nose into his pillow. Freak knew his boy had stuff to do in the morning, and sleep was important to Dex. God even in his own mind, which was a reflection of what condition his body was currently in out in the Real World, Dexter hardly made a dent in the mattress. Freakazoid couldn't help it; he bit his lip and stared at that skinny wrist next to him on the pillow. Freak could wrap his whole hand around it on a good day-now it looked like his boy was made of paper, or glass.

_Last weigh in: 7/21, 5'6 when he didn't slouch so bad and 118.43 pounds. _Freak mulled over the last self check-up he and Roddy were making Dexxy go through and his frown came back.

"I thought you…didn't get bad dreams Freak…" Dex's groggy voice broke him from his thoughts and the hero glanced down at the teen curled next to him. He tried for a tiny smile, wondering if it looked as sheepish as he currently felt.

"Erh, yeah me too. Maybe it's just another side effect from…splitting, you know? Like your eyes." _And the wasting away you did when we rejoined. I think I literally sucked some of the life out of you to rejoin, I think I really __**am**__ a leech._'

Freak wisely kept that thought away from their shared thought pool.

Dexter just hummed quietly and blinked a couple times. Freak saw that and chuckled a tiny bit. "Get some sleep buddy; I'm sorry I woke ya for something silly." He said, patting a bony shoulder fondly.

"No…you didn't, it's okay," Dex mumbled as he curled up closer to Freak feebly and yawned again. Freak's smile grew. Too cute.

Dex didn't say anything when Freak rested his hand on his shoulder, but that could have been because he was asleep.

Either way, it was making the Freakazoid feel better already, and for that the hero was grateful.

He had the best human ever.

_**F!**_

The next day dawned bright and clear, and Dexter even managed to wake himself up at a reasonable ten o clock, which he assumed was just in time to avoid Duncan and his parents so that he was free to go downstairs and make his own breakfast. Without even knowing it he hummed as he poured some cereal and rolled his eyes fondly when Freak prodded him into making some toast too.

_(Oh! And put peanut butter on it, yum! Protein's good for ya Dex!)_

"Okay, Freak." Dexter laughed and held out a hand. The bread box lid lifted and its contents flew into Dexter's fingers.

_(Dex all that practice with your telephon-teleess…that moving stuff with your mind bit, has been paying off! I bet you could even throw Duncan!)_

"Telekinesis Freakazoid, and you know how I feel about violence." Dexter scolded gently like a parent as he poured himself some orange juice and watched as two slices of bread dropped quietly into the toaster, the lever sliding down on its own as Dex turned away.

_(Yeah…)_ It was a faint grumble. _(But-)_

"No butts Fr-"

"Talking to yourself again Dorkster?" Dexter leaned forward in his chair to avoid the 'playful' swing his brother tried to deliver to him as he stomped into the kitchen.

"Morning, Duncan." The boy said warily, having to get up and grab his toast when it popped on the counter. No telekinesis around anyone, Roddy had said. Well that was fine with Dexter, who wasn't the hero of this story and didn't think he should pretend to be.

"Shut up, wimp."

"Oh now dear, he wouldn't be so much of a wimp if you two didn't roughhouse so much, you know," Said their mother as she stepped in to the room, heels clacking.

"Morning Mom." As usual, Dex was ignored. He didn't really mind, just nibbled on his toast and listened half-heartedly to the conversation going on around him.

"You could even teach your little brother to lift weights, how does that sound?"

"What?" No one seemed interested in Dexter's opinion, so he didn't give it.

"THAT little wimp? Yeah, I'm sure." his older brother snorted, brushing past him. "Come on, look at him, what the hell could he lift?"

_(An entire school bus, asshole.)_

Dexter choked on his orange juice.


	3. The Exit Becomes an Entrance

**Author's Notes: **Guys I'm so sorry this is taking so long, I've just been busy as fuck. Wanted to get this up and out of the way, so, uh enjoy I guess? Feedback is appreciated!

_**Chapter 3 'Light Up the City' **_

"_A terrible thought has moved into my mind, a giant rat that's nibbling on my pride. It's tearing away my patience and my wit…I must take proper measures set a trap for it."_ -Poe

A normal day for Dexter Douglas and Freakazoid was probably not what everyone else considered a normal day. That being said, 'normal' was a relative term Freakazoid assumed applied to others in varying levels. For instance his personal normality was his other half woke up, spent the day doing whatever it is Dexter's do while Freakazoid himself lounged about and made hilarious commentary so he could hear Dex's cute laugh, and then at night, the _fun_ started.

The Freakazoid got let out, and he made sure to take any shred of normalcy and toss it out the window on his own way over the sill. (Doors were for weenies, and anyway Dexter didn't want him to wake up his parents or his brother. So Freakazoid didn't out of pure respect for his boy's wishes.)

And right now? Oh Freakazoid was _loving_ life.

"Ahhh patrol. Best way for a superhero to spend their time, right Cosgrove?"

"Sure is kid." The cop didn't sound as thrilled as Freak was, but then again he never did, so Freakazoid didn't dwell too much on it. Freakazoid just grinned and let his buddy get back to his custard cone, and Freak himself flicked his tongue through some sprinkles and fudge.

Patrol meant look out, it didn't always mean something would happen, that was entirely dependent on what the villains were up to tonight, but if they were indeed up to anything—

"_Zzzt—Car 19, Car 19, robbery in progress southwest of you, repeat, robbery—"_ The radio from Cosgrove's patrol car crackled to life as the officer scooped up the mic in his free hand and responded. Freakazoid on the other hand, downed his cone whole and bounced in the passenger's seat eagerly.

"Ohhh cool! A robbery!" _(Robbery's aren't exactly a good thing, Freak.)_ Dexter's soft voice commented in the back of his head.

_(No, but they're better than sitting here doin' nothing Dexxy!) _

The equivalent of a mental sigh. _(I suppose.)_ And whatever his little geek might have said next was drowned out by Cosgrove turning on the sirens as he revved the engine.

"Let's go kid."

"Oh—_kay_!"

_**F!**_

It's at this point that Dexter, sitting safely in his own mind, blinked a little and looked around.

It was very hard to look around in ones' own mind, but after a couple years he had gotten it down to a science, and now what he saw was this: Pretty much nothing actually. For one thing, what he looked away from was a single computer in the modest sized room. The screen showed him what Freakazoid was seeing, so Dexter was limited to that, but no more limited than he would be if he were in control, really, so it wasn't as scary as someone might think it was. That being said, Freakazoid did tend to see differently, and a little…oddly.

There was a window he could use that said 'Dextervison' but Dex kind of liked seeing how Freak saw, and rarely used that window. In 'Freakvision' mode, the monitor showed where Wifi was, and phone lines glowed blue sometimes when they were in use. Sometimes the Freak's vision went to black and white, then back to color, and sometimes it showed things Freakazoid targeted in on, like villains for example. There were times when Freakazoid got peeved and the edges of the monitor turned pulsing red and Dexter watched his hero's eyes pinpoint on 'glass jaws' or easy to break bones, listed several painful ways to _delete_ an enemy and those rare times scared Dexter a little. On the side of the computer in another window a chat box was open and that recorded their mental conversations when Dexter was in this room. The keyboard didn't work, even though there was one, and there was a mouse that also didn't work. Dexter simply spoke out loud or thought and the chat box sent it to Freakazoid.

'_**10:45:46 pm, Dexter:**__ 'I suppose.'_ For example.

For the past few minutes as Freakazoid dealt with the 'Real World' Dexter sat alone in his…in his Dexterzone, and he suddenly felt a little funny.

So he tore his eyes from the computer screen and looked around at the soft blue, empty walls save for a picture of his family in a plain frame. Over to his right on its own wall was a door with a knob. Dexter knew where that led, to the second layer of their shared brain, what Freak called the middle part. It housed the door to Freak's Freakazone (never to be confused with the Freakalair) and also opened to the larger subconscious of Dexter Douglas's mind. Dexter had asked once a while ago, curious whether Freak had his subconscious housed there too. Freak had only grinned and shrugged a little, then switched subjects as he was apt to do. It never occurred until later to the little geek that _maybe_ Freak had changed topics knowing full well he was doing so. But Dexter didn't dwell on it.

Also in the Dexterzone there was also a simple bed with a side table and a lamp, and the lamp gave off a yellowed glow that was aged and comforting.

Except right now Dexter didn't feel very comforted.

"…h-hello?"

The chat box added an extra line accordingly. _**'10:59:47 pm, Dexter:**__ 'H-hello?'_

Silence. Not even Freakazoid answered. Dexter glanced at the screen, Freak was focused on the robbery and Dex didn't blame him.

Then he turned away again when he heard a faint noise, almost like a slither from somewhere by the wall that had the door. The geek blinked. 'I must be hearing things.' He thought.

'_**11:00:01 pm, Dexter:**__ I must be hearing things.' _

Dexter now had the choice between turning back to the familiar bright computer screen or continue trying to figure out what was going on his mind, and if it weren't for the fact his lamp hadn't literally just turned off with the sound of the bulb bursting, he might have taken that first choice.

As it was, the Dexterzone went darker than Dex was accustomed to and he yelped a little, the computer screen bathing him in sharp white light, and he whirled to look at that too, but ended up having to raise his arms over his eyes to shield them from the strong light that poured out. That ended too though, and when the spots in front of his eyes finally blinked away, Dex found the monitor to look as normal as usual…with the exception that the chat box was utterly wiped clean. Dexter's brows furrowed in confusion, and without thinking he tapped a key. Nothing, of course happened.

He tried jiggling the mouse. Nope. Freak's gaze swiveled from Cosgrove, said something Dex couldn't hear—the speakers weren't working?—and then back to the bank room as they faced down the robbers.

The walls suddenly groaned inward, and Dexter cried out in pain a second time, because oh God it felt like—it felt like his brain was being crushed or something! What, what was going on!? Confused and hurting and freaking out in the bad way, Dexter called for the one thing that never failed to rush to his aid.

"Freakazoid!"

The chat box didn't send it through.

Freakazoid's mind went on as if it had never heard the boy, and Dexter felt something akin to terror curdle in his stomach as he stared at the empty chat box.

"Freak? F-Freakazoid! Please!" Dexter called again, terrified.

And then the chat box made a line, and Dex felt a warm rush of relief, it was going through! Freak would hear him and come get him and everything would be alright—

'_**11:00:01 pm, Dexter**__: 010ssdldl. _

Dexter stared, mouthing a soft 'what…?' But the chat box wasn't done.

'_**11:59:59pm, Dexter**__: whA7 ?  
__**00:00:00 am, Dexter:**__  
__**13:00:00 404: **_SDFSSDASDSDsdDEEEEEXXXXYYYYY YDSSFDfvdbgbvfb

"My….n-nickname?" Dex mumbled through cold lips, deciphering the middle without thinking about it. But only Freak called him that…?

There was that _**slither**_ again, soft and faint, and Dexter ripped his eyes from the monitor, over to the door, because maybe he could get out and to the Freakazone and—Dexter's blood ran cold for a second time, leaving him numb and shaking there in his computer chair. The knob was gone.

For that matter the _whole damn_ _door_ was gone.

With absolute alarm squeezing his mind and thoughts, Dexter only whimpered.

_**F!**_

Outside in the Real World? Freakazoid sneezed.

And picked himself out of a dent in a brick wall that looked an awful lot like him. Boy the force of that one was bad!

"S'cuse you, kid." Said Cosgrove amiably, standing up from his duck that he'd done to avoid the blast of fizzling electricity Freakazoid had sneezed out.

"Ick, excuse me is right, sorry Cosgrove! Fifth one this night, think I got cobwebs up in there." The hero winced and glanced at the scorch marks he'd left on the side of the van where the robbers were loaded into. They'd just been about to head to the station for the boring part or patrol, (dumb paperwork) when Freak had felt…funny. And sneezy.

"Yeah, well, why don't ya call it a night Freakazoid, and go home and have some soup. Soup's good for ya when you feel urpy."

"But I don't feel up—GYAHHACHOO!" _FZZZSSST!_ Freakazoid sniffled and slumped over; wincing at the hole he'd left in the bank's door.

"Uh…oops." Freak said meekly, glancing at the cop.

"Like I said kid, soup." Cosgrove pointed to him and Freak nodded.

"R-right…uh…night Cosgrove, sorry." The hero sniffed, covering his nose and trying to NOT sneeze anymore.

"Don't worry about it, ya did the hard work, go home kid." Freak smiled gratefully, Cosgrove was the best!

"Bye then!" Freak took his starting pose—

"See ya, Freakazoid."

And took off like a rocket. Or arguably the speed of one, anyway. God it was great to have super powers again!

On a normal night it'd take Freakazoid about 30 seconds to get from downtown to Finickulee Finiculy Drive, and then bounce from a telephone pole into the Dex's bedroom and that would be the end of it.

The problem was tonight was apparently not a normal night, because it took Freakazoid 19 minutes to get back to the Douglas house…because for 18 of them he actually had to walk like a normal person since his sneezing had gotten so bad he couldn't hold the ability to streak over the rest of the blocks like, well, lightning.

Okay, that was a bit unsettling, to be fair.

"Guess I'll have to use the door for once too," Freak muttered as he walked up to the Douglas porch.

_(Hey Dex, is the key still under the second plant to the left of the door?)_ Freak waited, oddly patient for once.

_(….Dexter?)_

Freak blinked, checked the plant as he mentally called for his other half and found the key easily. He didn't dwell on Dexxy not answering, it WAS late, and his little geek needed all the sleep he could get. It'd be good for him if Dex's mind had fallen asleep before patrol ended, and Freakazoid really didn't mind.

So Freak got in the house the normal way people tend to do (unless you're a robber or Freakazoid.) and tried to get to Dex's room without out any more…funny stuff. He actually managed to make it to the top of the stairs before he sneezed a small bolt of lightning and broke a vase with a sharper crash than was necessary for such a cheap thing, Freak thought angrily, wincing as he stood before the broken ornament.

A light turned from behind Dex's parent's door, and the Freakazoid winced and shot for Dexter's room, shutting the door quietly as possible and pressing his ear against the wood, super hearing or not.

There was the sound of his dad grumbling wearily about Duncan's late night clumsy excursions for food, and then a door shut and there was silence. Freakazoid let out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

_(THAT was a close call…that musta woken ya up buddy, right?)_

Again, no response from his other half.

"I….Dex?" He tried vocally; just to see if that made a difference.

No answer. Freakazoid frowned and looked around Dex's bedroom as if that held some answers. He glanced at Chubbykins sleeping in Dex's computer chair before checking the door once more and flopping gracelessly on Dex's single bed.

"Le'see…" The crazed superhero settled on his back, wiggled a bit and forced his body to relax. "Freak in!"

And then he was lying on his couch in the Freakazone, and looking up at the endless black of his 'ceiling.' Huh, he really should put a poster or something up there, just to give his eyes somewhere to go when he lay on his back on the couch.

Maybe of Davey Jones. Wait, wasn't he dead? Eh, nevermind. So Freak sat up, intending to ask Dexter, and then remembered…Dex hadn't been answering him.

"Well…better go check on him…just in case."

Freakazoid may have been lackadaisical about literally everything else in his life…but Dexter was not one of those things he took lightly. He whistled quietly and strutted for the Dexterzone, grinning when he saw the door and not bothering to knock for once, just twisting the knob and pushing it open, looking expectantly at…an empty bed.

"…F-Freakazoid?"

Was…was that a whisper? Did Dexxy just—? So Freak headed all the way in, eyebrows pulling his mask down in his confusion as he looked over at Dexter, sitting with his boney knees drawn up to his chest in the computer chair, his arms tucked around his legs as if to appear as small as possible.

"Yeah, I…Dexter? Whatcha doing buddy?"

"….sitting here."

That sent off a small warning bell. "Yeah, I can see that Dexxy," Freak gave him a chuckle instead of letting his worry show right away. He walked over to Dex's desk and ran a hand through his stand-up shocked hair. "For any particular reason?" He prodded with what he hoped was an encouraging smile, and Dexter only blushed faintly and turned to look at the computer screen to his right.

Freak looked too, "Hm?"

The monitor was black but that wasn't shocking, considering both their mental minds were withdrawn inward and they were an almost coma like state of existence. Dexter's body was breathing, yes, but that was about it.

"Something the matter Dex?" Freak tried again, glancing at his little human with a raised eyebrow.

"I just…thought I heard something, out there," A thin hand pointed but withdrew rather quickly, and for some reason Freakazoid felt like he wasn't getting the whole story. But Dexter stumbled on, tripping over his words.

"M-Maybe it was something in the s-subconscious—"

"Oh! Wait, want me to go check? Hang on, be right back!" Freak whirled around cheerfully and headed for the door without thinking.

"Freakazoid! Wait, no—"

Freak stopped so quick his boots made a tiny squeak and he whirled around, because when Dexter said _no_, Freakazoid listened. He blinked expectantly down at the boy, head tilting ever so slightly in his confusion.

Dexter blinked up at him from his computer chair, lips slightly parted. He paused, like he hadn't expected Freak to actually do what he'd said, Freak's eyebrows knitted in confusion under his mask as he walked back over to his little geek and took a knee before him. Kneeling like this he was nearly eye level with Dex and god those wide heterochromatic eyes aimed at him were filled with worry and relief all at once and that made Freak's stomach do funny things.

"Aww Dexxy," Freak smiled reassuringly, settling a white gloved hand over Dex's cheek in a friendly touch.

"Hey…what's up buddy huh? You're white as a sheet Dex…" He searched those big eyes, expression turning from soft fondness into worry when Dex didn't immediately tell him his problems. Cause Dex _always_ knew he could tell Freak anything and rain or shine Dex would know his alter ego would fix it in a heartbeat, right? Even if he couldn't fix it he could damn well sympathize and listen to the little guy.

"Dexxy…you okay?"

A very small, meek nod. It wasn't very convincing.

"Dexxy's it almost 3:30 in the morning," Dexter's eyes widened, and Freak didn't miss it.

"So why don'tcha go take over, get something to drink to settle yer nerves and then let yer mind catch some Z's, okay? Go on buddy, I'm right here." The hero coaxed gently, to the tune of another meek nod as Dexter swallowed, closed his eyes softly and faded before Freak's eyes. Freakazoid just smiled, withdrawing his hand that was now touching air. He stood up and glanced around the room, giving it a once over to see if maybe it could give him a hint as to why Dexxy looked so…bent up when he'd come in here.

But…nothing was out of place. Simple and clean, just like Dexxy was. Hm.

"Ah well. I'll ask him again in the morning, bet he'll tell me after he's slept on it." Freak hummed easily and headed back to the Freakazone, where he plopped on his couch and let his attention be held by one of his favorite episodes of Rat Patrol.

He'd been so focused on Dexxy, he'd forgotten to ask Dex what he thought about the sneezing he'd been doing.

_**F!**_

Dexter's eyes flew open. HIS eyes, color and unable to see in the dark, not Freak's eyes.

It was normalcy, and Dexter clung to it as he lay there on his back in his bed, staring at the dark ceiling.

It had been 11 when the door had… Dexter stopped his thoughts from recalling what had happened, because he didn't want to shiver anymore. But anyway Freak had just said it was 3am, (and quick glance at his digital clock on the bedside table confirmed this to be true) which mean that he'd been trapped for almost 4 hours. So why did it feel so much longer? Dexter's hand turned to fists, gripping his bed sheets as he took several deep breaths to prevent throwing up.

Dexter Douglas tried to sleep and ended up staring at his ceiling for a good hour or so. Huh, he really should put a poster up there or something, right now the street lamp was just lighting up tile, and it was a little boring.

In retrospect, maybe boring would be a nice change for once.


	4. The Blackout (The Warning)

**Author's Notes: Okay guys, you thought updates were slow before? Well my spring semester just started, but I'll try my best. Enjoy this chapter, I know I did making it.**

_**Chapter 4 'The Blackout (The Warning)'**_

"_This is where the story ends, we will never need to leave, we keep running! The walls keep coming down, __this is a warning__…"_ –Save Our Selves

By the next morning, Dexter had the crazy idea that Freakazoid had gotten over his sneezing fit and was better. But no. And as Dexter headed to the bathroom down a darkened hallway because literally ALL the power was out, he decided he'd better leave the crazy ideas to his alter ego at this point, because honestly—

_(GYAAACHO!) _**FIZZT!**

Yeah, Freakazoid had only gotten worse actually. That was just how their luck went. Once you begin to go downhill…you pick up speed.

_(...that didn't hurt Freak, did it?)_ The geek sent softly as he stood up from his crouch and gathered up the blown bulb from the lamp he'd been passing. The bulb, which had no electricity running to it thanks to the rolling blackouts (that Dexter was starting to suspect were being caused by Freakazoid) had _exploded_ as Freak had dispelled his extra electricity. Dexter wasn't an outlet because, because probably Freak wasn't letting his human body be an outlet, so the excess energy rammed into the first available source it could find and blew whatever it came into contact with to kingdom come. Dexter sighed a little, and gathered up the shards with his telekinesis, making sure to collect every tiny piece so no one could cut their foot on the glass. __

Dexter paused as a suggestive thought hit him. "….no I will NOT leave some pieces of glass outside Duncan's door!" The tiny geek hissed as he headed down the dark hall, and Freakazoid's mental response was a very mature huff and pout. And another sniffle, but that had nothing to do with Dex denying some revenge on his big brother. At least Dexter was assuming it didn't.

_(…sniff….nuh….I feel funny. Dexxy I feel _weird_, make it g'way? Please?)_

Any of Dexter's annoyance at his other half faded completely.

_(Oh, Freak. You sound stuffed hang on, I'll see what I can do, okay?)_ Dexter soothed softly, immediately turning into a source of comfort to the hero whether he knew it or not. Dex hurried to the bathroom with the shards and blackened bulb trailing behind him. He managed to dump them safely in the trash bin that was always kept right outside the door and looked around helplessly in the dark.

"But how can you have clogged sinuses Freakazoid? You don't even _have_ sinuses. At least I thought you didn't."Dexter muttered, knowing no one was even up yet and not worrying for being overheard. Freak's sneezing on his side of their shared brain had woken Dexter up from his less than fitful sleep and honestly the boy was just relieved to have an excuse to stay awake. It was only 5 am. He'd gotten…maybe two hours? But that didn't matter.

_(AHHHHCHOO! AHHHCO!)_ Dex glanced over head, watching the lights flicker on and off in time with the hero's sneezing. Like he said…downhill.

And anyway Freakazoid was so distracted from his own sneezing he hadn't noticed his geek wobble a bit as he got them away from the big pieces of technology like his computer in his room and headed into the second floor hall. Only to find the power was completely and utterly shot to heck. At first, Dex had assumed a fuse had simply blown and it was just a matter of tinkering in the basement but then…Freak had sneezed once before the lamp incident and Dexter saw the lights flicker on over head, then die again.

Worst part was poor Freakazoid was causing this and he didn't even know _why_.

"Don't worry Freak," Dexter murmured into the darkness of the bathroom, wincing as his bare feet hit cold tile and his hands reached out into the blackness, searching rather aimlessly really. He smacked his knee on something—probably the tub—but ignored the ache and said instead, "We'll patch you up, okay?"

_(Mhm.) _And Dexter smiled, even if he was blind as a bat like this. And then Dexter blinked. Oh. Duh. The geek narrowed his eyes, focused and gathered some of that blue energy that came with his mind powers in his palm, and perked up when he found it'd made enough of a light source to find the cabinet mirror. Yes!

_(Gyuh...m'stuffed up with electricity I think…but wha'bout you Dex? You okay?)_

"I'm doing much better now that I can see in front of me….yes Freak, don't worry about me, I'm okay." The geek chuckled softly, pushing aside some antacids for the good stuff.

"Uhm…well we don't have much. DayQuil…Pepto…" He rattled off quietly, shoving aside bottles and boxes and the occasional toothbrush. If they treated this like a human would treat a sinus clog it should go away, right? That's what Freakazoid thought, and Dexter was too tired to do anything smart like use his brain. He just wanted sleep all of a sudden, but his hero came first.

"Ah, here we go! We have Mucinex and Advil Freak, which one do you want me to take?" Dexter waited a few seconds, and then blinked.

_(…Freakazoid?)_

_(Mh, wha? Oh, sorry Dexxy, just tired. Uh, take whatever you want buddy, I'll convert it after it dissolves in yer stomach.)_

Dexter peered worriedly at himself in the mirror, as if he was trying to check on Freak through his reflection. "Oh, Freak," The geek fretted in a soft voice, and hurried to down two Mucinex.

_(This isn't like you Freak….I'm worried.)_ Dexter admitted mentally, putting everything back and letting the light fade from his palm.

_(….aw, you do care.) _Dexter head a mental chuckle as well as imaging Freak slouched on the couch in the Freakazone and grinning tiredly at the ceiling.

"Of course I care Freakazoid." Dexter murmured, tip toeing by his parent's and Duncan's room and making it safely. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and paused before the top of the stairs, his room in front of them a couple feet. But he balked and glanced into the dark downstairs.

_(…What is it Dex?)_ The geek blinked back to life.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just trying to decide if I should sleep on the couch for a couple hours, you know, away from my…really amazing computer that I know you'd never hurt intentionally but that I don't want to see fried." Dex muttered out bashfully and quickly, feeling rude for even suggesting such a thing.

_(…I've always liked that couch you know.)_

"Yeah, me too." Dex nodded with a sigh, heading down stairs. "…you will be okay if I get some sleep Freakazoid, right?" The geek asked as he skipped the last step before the carpeting, because it squeaked badly.

"I mean, I don't want to leave you alone, I could come into, into the Freakazone…if you wanted a-and keep you company?" Oh crap, did he sound too eager? Too clingy? Dexter swallowed and kept those last two thoughts very private, and tuned in just in time to hear:

_(…s'__**my**__ fault, for not letting ya get all the sleep you need Dexter.)_ It was so rare to hear his actual name from his alter ego the little geek was caught off guard and stared at his blanket he'd tugged off the rocking chair.

"Oh, oh it's alright Freakazoid, please don't worry about it." Dexter smiled softly, laying down on the couch and pulling the crocheted blanket over him.

_(Still, you need all the rest you can get. M'sorry I woke you for a little, a little nasal congestion.) _

That they weren't even sure he was capable of having in the first place. Dexter frowned a tiny bit at the ceiling, arms behind his head. Roddy and Freak had told him over and over Freak was more computerized superhero than he was a, a meat popsicle. Before that whole incident with the splitter and Gutierrez, they'd never even thought the erratic electric charged hero was capable of being human. Not just human…a really unstable…scary human sometimes. It wasn't his fault, but….

_(…You okay buddy?)_

"Huh?" Dexter answered intelligently. "Oh it's just; I wouldn't call sneezing electricity out a little congestion Freak." He mumbled, hoping to distract his hero.

_(…oh nutbunnies that reminds me I broke your mom's vase too.)_

"Which one, the one at the top of the stairs or the one Dad bought her for Christ—"

_(Top of the stairs….)_ Self-pity and shame and sheepishness slid over Dexter's side of their shared mind, who wasn't used to receiving these emotions, he was usually the one pouring them onto Freakazoid who took them without complaint and tried to make him feel better. So Dex took a leaf out of his hero's book, (because Freak was nothing if not a hero to him,) and sent over assurance and acceptance and love.

"…aw c'mon Freak," Dexter slurred into the couch cushion. He grinned lazily. "Don't be blue."

Silence.

Then_, (Ohhhh you sneaky little Dexxy you been waiting to say that for years haven't ya. You're lucky you're so cute you can get away with this stuff.)_ Dexter might have blushed if he was more conscious. As it was he chuckled weakly and rolled over into the soft worn couch, slinging a thin arm over the back and pretended it was a familiar muscular chest he was snuggling against.

"G'night." He managed to mumble, his own exhausted mind shutting down.

_**F!**_

_(…Night Dexxy…)_ And Freakazoid waited the usual ten seconds until he heard the soft mewling sound that signaled his boy was truly asleep, and added _(Love you.)_

Dexter slept on. Freak didn't blame him.

As for himself, the hero snuffled and sniffled and tried to keep himself quiet. This whole mess was one thing, waking poor Dex up was another! He didn't know what was wrong with him; it wasn't like the servers at WikipediaMD had a section for computerized superheroes with the species 'Freakazoid' for him to check into. They really out to get on that though, this sneezing thing was getting old. Ah but…but it'd pass, right?

Freak sighed, a bit heavily if anyone was paying attention, and leaned back against his couch, trying to fall into the closest thing he had to a Sleep mode. But Hibernate did not come, and Freak frowned a little.

He only sneezed once more after that, and thankfully nothing exploded, in here or out there.

Exactly four hours later, (give or take a few minutes maybe) Freakazoid felt Dexter's mind jerk to life as his tiny body was shoved unceremoniously from the couch and flopped gracelessly onto the floor.

"Ack! D-Duncan!" Freak heard, and opened his eyes wearily. No, he hadn't been sleeping just…recharging. But now he wasn't and Dexxy wasn't either and Freakazoid felt something akin to crankiness hit him as he stretched and listened to his poor boy object to Duncan's rough 'brotherly love.' Pfft.

That stutter was kind of cute Freakazoid would be the first to admit, but he felt it sometimes made Dex more of a target. He shoved himself off his own couch in the safety of his boy's mind and strutted over to the large eye shaped windows. For good measure he glared at the buffoon towering above them.

Duncan however, didn't notice.

"He's such a weenie," Freak snapped out loud, knowing only Dexter would hear him. He was still irritable from last night's sneezing fest, so he shut off Duncan's voice with a huff and only heard Dexter's nice voice instead. That didn't stop Freak from adding his own thoughts though, spoken aloud in the Freakazone.

"Dex kick him in the—"

"Duncan I was not trying to shirk out of chores, I was just—no, why would I sleep in plain sight of mom,-I was only…fine…I'm going, I'm going!"

_**F!**_

_(…He's such a weenie.) _And Dexter, having been woken up just a bit too harshly for his liking, was inclined to agree with his alter ego for once. As it was, he stifled a yawn behind his hand and stumbled in what he assumed was the direction of the stairs.

_(Wow, I'm surprised, usually only Gutierrez can get you to use your special peeved off tone.) _Dexter sent with a faint smile as he wobbled up the stairs.

_(Gutierrez's not a weenie, he's an asshole. He's been upgraded ever since…well, ever since.)_

The geek smiled faintly as he headed into his room for his clothes. _(I know Freak, I know. It's okay now…pinkie promise.)_

_(But—)_

Alone in his room with the door shut, Dex spoke out loud as he kneeled down and dug around for a clean pair of shorts.

"Freakazoid…he's in jail, justice has been delivered, and everyone is safe."

_(…and you.)_

Dexter paused, poking his head out of his shirt and blinking round his jostled glasses. "Hm?"

_(…you're safe too.)_

Dex blinked, put on his glasses back on and straightened his baggy overshirt. He smiled softly, nodding, even though Freak couldn't see. Apparently Dexter was in a different class than 'everyone.' He wondered, a little idly, what class that might be then.

"That's right; I'm safe too, Freak. Promise I won't go anywhere."

_(Kay. Thanks, Dexxy.)_

"Mhm."

Unbeknownst to the hurricane he'd just managed to quell with a couple soft spoken words, worthless little Dexter Douglas tidied his room, and went downstairs to start his day.

His day started with him being kidnapped while out getting groceries for his mother.

Well, not exactly _kidnapped_ but it was more or less what Roddy had done, coming up behind him in the grocer's and startling the boy so bad he'd nearly dropped the eggs he was carrying and the overhead lights had flickered aggressively. (Freak could only see what Dexter was seeing.) Freak's presence relaxed immediately upon finding it was Roddy, who, duh, clearly wasn't a threat to his boy.

"Sorry lad, thought ya heard me coming." Roddy said with a look.

"Ah, no, nope, I didn't, h-hi Mr. MacStew," Dex squeaked, still getting his wits and his eggs about him.

"So uhm, what, what's up, s-sir?" The little geek blinked up at the man curiously, because Roddy didn't just show up for tea and chats out of the blue.

"Trouble, lad." The man said with a serious gaze, (though to be fair…Roddy always looked serious. Or annoyed. That was an expression reserved usually for Freak though, not him.)

"T-trouble? What kind—"

And then the lights in the entire place died like a candle had been huffed upon, casting the market in darkness. Dexter heard shrieks and gasps and he too jumped, gasping a little when Freak's protective presence surged forth from the back of his mind and said something about hitting a switch. Dexter blinked once and suddenly he could see in the dark, a faint blue tint to everything as the boy's mouth fell open and he turned to see Roddy, his own eyes glowing faintly. Oh, oh right, Roddy and Freak could see in the dark, Freak better than Roddy of course. Dexter still jumped when he felt a large hand take his wrist and pull his basket away, setting it somewhere.

"This kind of trouble lad…now come on, we need to get out of here."

_**F!**_

The entire city was down, no power, no generators, nothing. The rolling blackouts had finally reached Washington, but Roddy and Dexter knew that it had really reached the Douglas's home, which just happened to be surrounded by city.

_(As if we don't have enough to deal with.)_ Dexter sent with a moan to Freak as Roddy led them from outlet to outlet to the Electrical and Gas Company that supplied power to the most of the city. The WGE was slightly under panic and shutdown of course, but Roddy and Dexter avoided them easily.

_(Right? Wonder if this has anything to do with my sneezing…)_

_(Hold on, I'll ask.)_

But Roddy threw them a curveball, as Dexter suddenly found himself standing in a room that had a few windows to show the huge panels of gray and dark buttons. The geek paused, mouth slightly open as he looked around, then back at their mentor in askance and confusion.

"Lads? I'm going to ask ye to do something very important fer the city. I'm sorry, I know yer still tired an all but, but we've got figure out why this is happening and we can't leave the D.C. in the dark while we do so. So…the only option I can think of it asking the Freak to charge the city for a while."

Dexter stared dumbly back at their mentor for a moment.

"….how long is a while?" The geek finally asked warily, looking worried for his alter ego.

"However long he can manage, unfortunately. Small miracles and all that, we'll take what we can get...but if yer not up to it…"

"It won't, won't _hurt_ him, right?" Seemed little Dexter only got a spine when it concerned someone close to him. There was no one closer than Freakazoid, to be fair. Their mentor smiled faintly.

"….what lad? Hurt the Freakazoid?" He pointed out with a wry look and an eyebrow raise.

"Well maybe not hurt but, I know he can't be hurt, that's my job but I mean, make him tired? I can only replace so much…I don't even _have_ electricity in me." Dex finished off lamely, looking at the floor.

"No lad, ye don't, but I've contacted the Chip and it'll be funneling some extra juice into you for this, since it's needed. It wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't serious, but we've got to keep power to the places we can. I'd do it myself but I've already give all I can to the other cities across the country. Aye," he sees the look on Dexter's face, "This has been happening for a bit now."

Dexter nodded softly, looking away, clearly still hesitant. Oh…this was a big deal then, if other cities were experiencing this…and it was all centralized here where Freak was…oh, oh _nutbunnies_, as Freak would put it.

"I guess….a bit wouldn't hurt…" He stared out the window; there was no natural sunlight, just gray all over the city from the clouds. Dexter's eyes scanned the buildings for something to look at, to buy them a little more time. His eyes fell on Washington General.

"The hospitals around here probably really need the electricity…" His eyes widened faintly as that though struck him, and his resolve cracked and crumbled. What right did he have to hold his superhero back if it wasn't a truly huge danger to him? When innocent people were suffering in this blackout and the misery would be eased by Freak's help?

_(…Come on Dex, please, lemme help? Please!?)_

_(Alright, alright Freak, save your batteries.)_ Dexter sighed and rubbed his temples, while Freakazoid grinned. Sassy Dex was the best.

But Dexter had a bad feeling about this.

_**F!**_

"Okay, lad….you're _sure_ you're alright with doing all this, aye?" Roddy paused, turning around from the electrical panel he was leaning over, glancing worriedly at Freak who now stood in Dex's place with narrowed eyes.

"No. but that's not nothing new Roddy, I always do stuff I'm not sure about, it'll be fine." Freak sniffed into a tissue Dex had made him bring out into the Real World and tossed it into the garbage can. "Ready yet?"

"Aye, just about. Now you remember, normally yew would charge Washington and its neighbors for a whole week and not feel a thing. But you're not normal right now," the Scottish man jabbed a finger into Freak's exclamation point for added effect, because **this** was serious.

"I know Roddy, I know, I've got—"

"Yes." The man said firmly. "You do. And any unnecessary pull on the boy'll send him for a loop that I don't think either of you should go through right now. Not with his…condition."

"Right." Freak's shoulder slouched in his worry. "His condition." He parroted sadly, heading for the panel and eyeing the exposed circuitry.

_(It'll be okay Freakazoid, do what you have to. I'll probably just get a little sleepy is all, like usual.)_

Freakazoid sighed a bit heavily and shook his head_. (No, sorry Dexxy. Not taking any chances. Gonna do this with kid gloves on.) _The hero smiled and presses his gloved palms flat to the board, watching his electricity stagger from his hands in bright bolts and then slam into the machinery.

The lights overhead flickered back on, a radiator whined to life somewhere. Freak's electrical discharge remained white and clear and strong as he let more and more pump into the electric houses.

This was, _technically_, a wound that was draining the Freakazoid. And it didn't matter he was willingly letting his juice get sucked up by the dead machinery, it was something he needed to live and it was leaving him, small amounts or no. So Dexter Douglas' mind acted automatically and started filling in what Freakazoid had lost, drawing on some bottomless force that only the Chip knew how to access inside Dexter. Dexter was now the one getting drained, but the boy never complained. That's how it had always been, if Freak got rammed with Longhorn or zapped by the Lobe's ray guns, it was Dexter who got broken ribs and Dexter whose nervous system shuddered and got injured. Dexter had the scars. Freakazoid was a computer, he didn't get wounds.

Oh, Dexter healed back up quickly alright. But it was still weird, and Freakazoid wasn't sure he liked his Dexxy being his 'charger' and fixing him up all the time. It wasn't fair. Freak tended to ignore it for the most part, but was usually careful to not get beat up too much, or at least stay outside so that when he did change back Dex didn't need a hospital, just some painkillers and sleep. But there was always that what if, because Dexter's body didn't seem to have a stopper. It gave and gave to Freak until Dexter was half alive or worse. That, that was scary. Freak had promised to never let that happen, ever.

By this time the whole building had been brought back to life, and Roddy relayed that outside the surrounding buildings were starting to get power back already, energy flooding back to the rest of the city.

Freakazoid filled the reserves, saw the energy coming from him turn vibrant red and knew it was time to stop before it became electric blue.

"Okie dokie. Gave 'em enough for a week or so, and the generator should run for another three days off that after the power gets sucked out. That should give us enough time to figure out what's causing this…and stop it."

"Well done lad! Looks right as rain outside, I'll keep ya posted, and contact ye about our next move tomorrow. In the meantime…best go home and get some rest, the both of ya, aye?"

Because already Freak's hair was already flopping slightly and the superhero was yawning and blinking sleepily.

"Mhm, yeah…okay…later Roddy…" Freak mumbled before folding into something that was more or less electricity and shot into an outlet, surging down the lines and toward home.

He landed on Dexter's bedroom carpet just as the grandfather clock struck seven down in the hall.

"Oh…Dex we forgot," Freak yawned, flopping back onto their bed, which groaned, unused to the larger body on it.

"Forgot the….food'nstuff for…your mom…" His eyes dropped close before he could stop them, and wouldn't open again.

"_Freak in,"_ he breathed softly, just in time, before both their minds shut down, and everything for them this time, went dark.


	5. All is Hell That Ends Well

**Author's Note: We're left a lot to assume about what Freakazoid was before Dexter. Or even if he existed at all. Well…what if he did? What if…he'd always been there, in some manner of speaking, within the massive internet? Everyone assumes it's the Freakazoid who saved Dexter Douglas, right? Maybe, maybe we only know half the story. **

_**Chapter 5 'All is Hell That Ends Well'  
**_

"_I get frightened in all this darkness, I get nightmares and I hate to sleep alone. I need some company, a guardian angel! To keep me warm when the cold winds blow."  
_**  
11 Years Ago**

"ACK! Dexter! You weren't supposed to knock them down yet!" A nine year old Duncan moaned, throwing his hands up in the air as the eight dominoes toppled over.

"But it's fun to knock them down!" The seven year old Dexter replied with a giggle. He sat perched on a chair ontop of the phone book and leaned forward, shoving his huge glasses up his nose in an effort to see.

"Yeah, I know! That's why you gotta wait to set them _all_ up first, so it looks cooler when you knock them down!" Duncan said with a look, placing the first domino upright once more.

"But setting them up is _boring_!" Dexter whined, kicking his feet in the air. His small foot connected with the bottom of the table, smacking into the wooden surface and sending the three dominoes Duncan had set up falling over quietly like some mortally wounded animal.

"DEXTER!" Duncan cried, glaring at the younger boy.

Dexter blinked back. He was clearly oblivious to the fact that he had been the cause of the fallen dominos again and merely replied with an innocent, "What?"

"You gotta stop knocking them down!" Duncan cried. "We can't make it look all cool if you keep knocking them over!"

The younger boy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a loud clap of thunder that seemed to shake the entire house. Little Dexter jumped, eyes widening as he turned to look at the lightning streak out across the sky.

Duncan sighed as he watched his younger brother cast a terrified glance towards the window. His little brother normally liked rain, (any excuse to stay inside) but not a storm like this. That was why he had been trying to get Dexter to focus on the dominoes in the first place, to distract him.

Their parents weren't there to do it right now. So now it was Duncan's job to try.

He leaned over and poured some more dominoes out, the clattering noise they made as they hit the table caused Dexter to turn his head away from the freaky lightning streaks that arched and split the dark sky.

"Here, you start on this end, and I'll start over here."

Dexter swallowed and nodded, glancing back at the table. There was silence for a few minutes as the two boys worked.

"…hey, Duncan?"

"Yeah?"

"When do you think I'll make a friend?" he asked quietly.

Dexter stared at the domino in his hand, counting the dots and adding them up, then subtracting and multiplying the numbers in his head. This was something he wasn't supposed to be able to do yet, but he didn't understand why or what was wrong with him. Duncan didn't either, and that didn't make him feel any better. His parents called him talented, his teacher called him gifted, his classmates called him boring and quiet and dorky. Dorky Dexter Douglas rhymed a little too well, for his liking.

"I dunno, why? Does it matter?"

"…I don't know," he mumbled, legs swinging as he set one down and picked another from the pile. "I guess not, cause I have you but sometimes at school and stuff…"

Duncan snorted and said with a roll of his eyes, "Those weenies only make fun of you, they're not friends."

"They're not?" Little Dexter blinked. _'Weenies?'_

"Yeah, I mean, a friend is someone who's always there for you, you know? And doesn't care if you can do math already or say that big long word for the funnel thing with fruit in it—"

"Cornucopia?"

"Yeah, that one. And a friend is someone who won't let you get hurt, you know, like look out for you and stuff."

"…like Captain America?" _'Captain America has a shield. He protects people.'_

"Sure." Duncan shrugged. "Ready to knock it over?"

"Yeah!"

Dexter watched them fall; looking at the last one that toppled that was under all the other ones.

'_I want a superhero to protect me, too. And…and I can protect them! …somehow.' _

A pause. More lightning streaked across the sky but this time Dexter was thinking to hard about things that he didn't even notice the weather.

Duncan went back to his own side.

"Ready?" His big brother asked.

"Yeah…okay, let's knock em' over again!" Dexter suddenly smiled faintly, perking up and grabbing as many dominoes as he could get his hands on and began to set them up once more.

"Oi! Dexter, you're setting them up all wrong!" Duncan cried, the little moment of seriousness already past.

**Present Day**

Dexter was asleep in his cereal the next morning, for several straight minutes actually.

It was a new record, broken only when Freakazoid lifted his head from the couch, an alarm going off in the Freakazone that alerted him to all things wrong with his other half. Realizing Dex was shutting down on him, he winced. Freak prodded the boy's consciousness awake (Dexter jerked his head up and fumbled for his spoon) while Freak let his own head drop limply back down, his job done.

Dexter glanced wearily around, no one but him and Chubbykins in the kitchen, his parents gone for the day, Duncan out with his friends already. Dexter was alone, but not really, and he was okay with that.

"Freak, gyuh," he wiped milk off his face and yawned, "Freakazoid are you okay?" Gosh he was too tired to even use the mental link, speaking seemed so much easier, even if came across slurred to his own ears. Freakazoid still heard him, Freak always heard him.

_(…ah-huh.)_

"Well that was believable." Dexter mumbled as he stood up and collected his bowl, hoping that if he kept moving he wouldn't be in danger of falling asleep again. Freak didn't respond to his words, but Dexter, who had no way of knowing what was going on his alter egos mind, (because it was _Freakazoid_ who took care of Dexter, and it had been that way for two years almost,) bit his lip and tried sheepishly asking if he really WAS okay after all that last night.

The answer he got was a mental snore, and Dexter smiled softly at the bowl he was washing, shaking his head.

_(Oh Freak, I'm sorry you're so tired still…but you did great last night, I'm so proud of you.) _

An oddly calm feeling that resembled warmth and honesty and strength pushed against his mind in response. Dexter's smile widened shyly.

"Ah…I guess I better…get my jacket before I head out," The little geek said with a sigh, looking out the window that was over the sink. What sky he could see through the kitchen window that looked out over the backyard was gray and threatening rain. That wasn't entirely random weather—well it was to anyone else, because they didn't know Freak had charged half the city last night. On a 'normal' day Freak attracted lightning, heck he practically was lightning, and after the show last night it was no strange occurrence to Dexter or Roddy as to why the 'sunny forecast' for Washington had been replaced overnight with ominous, looming rainy weather. All that voltage, there was bound to be some stray patches that had shot up into the lighter atmosphere.

_(…still going to the library Dexxy?)_ Rain or shine, Dexter had work from his Honors classes over the summer. It bummed the superhero out and excited the little bookworm.

"Yes. Not for too long I promise Freakazoid."

_(S'okay. Just don't fall asleep in there, kay buddy? N'take an umbrella or something.)_

Dexter smiled warmly. Freakazoid was so nice. He dried his bowl and spoon and set it away in the cupboard.

_(I won't fall asleep, and I will Freak, I promise.)_ His mental message was no more than a whisper, as good as a thin hand touching a large red shoulder with a small fond pat.

Seemingly satisfied, Dexter felt his hero curl up within their mind and dim considerably, a sort of sleep mode. It was odd, Dexter had thought Freak didn't require sleep, but maybe after last night even that was a big deal for him. Dexter sighed, only the cat noticed and he didn't seem to care, and the geek went about his day. He would have to wait for Roddy or Freak himself to let him know if something could be done, and when and how. Until then Dexter had to wait and be content with the fact that…that at least they were together, right? They had each other.

Even if Freak got the short end of the stick when it came to this partnership.

Poor Freak.

_**F!**_

He'd said it before and he'd say it again…sleeping was REALLY not something he was able to do all that well.

So Freakazoid lay there thinking. Not moving, not watching TV. Just thinking. The slow rise and fall of his chest caught the light temporarily, allowing the shadows to dance in his definitions with that slow rise of Dexter's lungs. That's right. Dexter's. Freakazoid wasn't breathing—it just looked like it with Dexter's help. Upon further thinking, Freakazoid might even connect his fireside position to his entire life, in how it crackled like the hearth in his den and danced with shadows.

…putting a fireplace in here was his best idea since the snow cone machine.

But for Pete's sake!—who was Pete anyway, what was this about his sake?—Freakazoid was really having a time of it now. Bill Gates was he exhausted.

At least he knew the reason this time, it wasn't THAT big a mystery since he'd spent all last night charging up the damn city. But he'd charged the city before and it had never had an adverse side effect, never any sleepiness like this. Not even Dexter was exposed like they'd been worried he might be. He wasn't, but…still. Something…wasn't right in Denmark. But Freakazoid couldn't put his finger on it.

Come to think of it…he had charged the city before, sure, but that had been before the Incident. Freak wondered idly if that had something to do with it. But nah, couldn't have been. They'd gotten that all squared away. The odds of _him_ getting lose again? Please, the odds were one in a billion! (…ignore the fact those were the exact same odds **he** had ever had of the Chip's glitch manifesting and dragging him out.) Either way, the Chip and he had put up all sorts of safe guards, had locked the….2.0 version of him far away from Dexter, and so what if it meant Freak just got a little tired when it came to giving power lines a boost? It wasn't like he did it often, so hakuna matata, right?

And anyway now Dexxy was on his way, scurrying to the library with an umbrella under one arm and his backpack slung over his thin shoulder. He was living his life and Freakazoid, for the moment wasn't needed to defend or protect, and he was fine with that for once. Dexter could work on his summer homework (the little cutie) to his heart's content, and have some time for himself.

And it left Freak to think. To think of his past, and in all that it had shaped him. To think of his future, the place to which his present is preparing him to go. It was an interesting place to put himself: outside of everything. Outside of what was done to him, outside of what couldn't have been stopped.

Prevented, maybe. But when you're a bunch of ones and zeroes you can't really do much of anything outside of sit in the internet and _do what it told you._

He was free now, though. He was free because of two things, but really he was free because of one little thing that wasn't so little, that everyone took for granted, that everyone thought was a nerd and a loser and a waste of space. Well, he wasn't. They hadn't truly seen a waste of space, and none of them ever would. Freakazoid sure as hell would never go back there, not for all the snow cones in the world. Not after getting this delicious freedom at the gentle hands of his human.

Dexter exhaled—so Freakazoid did to. The muscles in his back melded with the red couch cushions to create liquid warmth, almost as if he were held down and ordered not to move or speak. The memory should have had his heart beating out of his chest. If he had one. What he did have was a faint humming like a computer tower fan—it got sluggish when he was fighting too long and it whirred happily when Dexter touched him or smiled his way, and it was almost always inaudible over his voice and actions. But no, the superhero didn't panic at the memory. It would have forced any other into a fit, maybe. But Freak had learned how to control his programming from an early stage and by extension could control his life as well. His. Not anybody else's.

Any manipulation in his life was now performed by his own hands, and so now there was no reason to fear his past.

Just reflect on it.

Huh. Wonder if Dexter thought his hair looked sexy pushed back.

_**F!**_

Meanwhile, Dexter himself was engrossed in a book in psychology so thick it could be used to bludgeon a bear to death that he _almost_ didn't hear the computer behind him go off. When he did he brushed it off as his imagination. Must be hearing things. With the Freakazoid in your head, you…tended to hear a lot of things that were never there. It was a fun trick deciphering reality from mentality sometimes, but even Dexter prided himself on his smarts. It was all he had going for him, after all.

This was a library, sure, but every place had a computer now a days, and this one had 6 of them, lined up behind the desks about two feet away. They had free internet for 30 minutes per person, and printing cost 25 cents each. Hey, it was library, but it was public.

_Ping. _

Dexter thought he was going crazy.

To be fair, he'd probably been crazy since that Christmas he'd taken his finger off the Delete key and caused the internet to overload and then download into his brain, but honestly who knew at this point, really.

_PING. _

"Wha—how…there's no chat programs on these computers," He whispered to himself, because talking to himself was something you were apt to do, essentially when you tended to get answers from another half of you that _was_ the insane one. (This time he didn't—but he didn't dwell on it just yet. Technically he hadn't called Freakazoid.) so the little geek bookmarked his page and stood up, glancing superstitiously round the empty library save for the nice lady at the counter all the way by the entrance and behind a wall. Coast was clear. Wonder how it was? Roddy couldn't write programs.

He only knew of one person who could do that, and Freak was asleep, right? Dexter clicked the box and opened the window.

_P. Chip: _Dexter  
_P. Chip: _Dexter

"Aw geez." The little geek moaned, eyes widening, fingers flying across the keyboard before he noticed he was even doing it.

_FreakGeek: Chip? Chip, I'm in the library, I'm trying to study, what is it?_

_P. Chip:Dexter not much time.  
Need you and the Freakaaaa#$%S 10100010100  
Freakazoid and you in the internet urgently. _

Dexter blinked in bewilderment and sent,

_FreakGeek: Chip are you alright? _

But as he was waiting for the response he was already stowing his notebook away and closing books. With a stealthy glance around to see he was still alone in this part of the library, his eyes glowed blue and the books glided off slowly toward their shelf homes a ways down the aisles. Dexter turned back to his computer, eyes widening at what he saw.

: _klfkrakazoid01000110011100100110010101100001011010 11011000010111101001101111011010010110010000100000 01101001011100110010000001101110011001010110010101 10010001100101011001000010000001101001011011100010 00000111010001101000011001010010000001101001011011 10011101000110010101110010011011100110010101110100 00100000011010010110110101101101011001010110010001 10100101110100011011000111100100001101000010100100 10010010000001101000011000010111011001100101001000 00011011010110000101100100011001010010000001100001 00100000011001110111001001100001011101100110010100 10000001101101011010010111001101110100011000010110 10110110010100101100_

"What the heck?" he breathed, scanning the binary. Dex swallowed. Oh gosh was, was the Chip breaking down? It wasn't converting—maybe it _couldn't_ convert. It was in a rush. The elegant, calculating persona of Dexter's Pinnacle Chip that had connected Freakazoid to him was many things...but a rusher was NOT one of them. This was setting off all sorts of warning bells.

It had made a 'grave mistake?' …that's what the binary said anyway. How had…the Pinnacle Chip made a mistake? They hadn't even been contacted by the Chip since…since the split.

_(Freak! Freakazoid wake up, please!)_ He put as much pleading desperation into the call as possible as he typed a question mark to the Pinnacle Chip for more explanation.

Another ping, just as Freakazoid started to rouse within his mind.

What Dexter read next caused his blood to curdle, his heart felt like it was being squeezed—the weak organ surely skipped a few beats.

_ : 01010100011010000110010100100000010010010110010000 10000001101111011001100010000001000110011100100110 01010110000101101011011000010111101001101111011010 01011001000010000001101001011100110010000001100010 01100001011000110110101100101110_

"_The Id of Freakazoid is back." _No worse words Dexter could have uttered to scare him so. It had the same effect on him as everyone in Hogwarts when they'd read 'The Chamber of Secrets has Been Opened.' At least that had been fiction.

This was freakishly real.

Dexter's hands shook. Freakazoid rose to the surface at his calling, and probably more likely his terror. The comforting, protective presence of his superhero helped a little as he basically bumped their conscious together like a friendly shoulder hitting his own.

_(Dexxy? Dex what is it? What's going on-)_

_(It's, it's Chip, he says—he says your, your Ids back? T-the part of you that manifested when we split but he says it's, it's in the internet somehow!_) Yes, Dexter was scared, and rightly so.

That had been…what had started off as too good to be true; a glorious moment in which two friends got to meet in ways they'd never thought possible…had dissolved into a nightmare like tissue paper under water.

_(….nutbunnies.)_

Freakazoid's Id mentality had tried to wreak havoc, and succeeded very well. And when Dexter was taken from him he had nearly killed a man, granted a villain, all the while acting like it was 'avenging' Dexter.

It had been terrible and Dexter Douglas? He was freaking out. In the bad way.


	6. Heart is where the Home Keys Are

**Author's Notes: Take this with a grain of salt, but you're about to learn some things about the Freakazoid and his origins we might not have caught. I only speculate, but hopefully they make sense. Sorry this took so freaking long. The next chapter shouldn't, now that I'm out of school, I should finish this whopper by the end of the summer! **

_**Chapter 6 'Heart is where the Home Keys Are'**_

_There's something strange going on tonight, there's something going on that's not quite right! Michael's nervous and the lights are bright, there's something going on that's __not__quite__ right." -REM_

As much as Dexter was trying **not** to have a panic attack, he felt it strangely odd Freak was not having one. Maybe all the years of facing villains twenty times bigger than you and still winning had started to give Freak a hard shell, maybe he was keeping it together because Dexter surely wasn't, maybe he was just waiting for Dexter to tell him what to do.

Dexter didn't know. He knew this though, as he sat there in the library looking around frantically for anyone that might see him, _Freakazoid_ was the superhero of this town, this world. It, it was his talents and skills that saved lives countless times, even his erratic behavior was a breath of fresh air in some of the more dire, hopeless moments. So, so as long as Freakazoid was fine, everything else would be.

Dexter clung to that thought as he hacked into the library's internet system, trying to pin point a location on the address the Chip had used to contact them. If he could just find the right door, Freakazoid's searching time would be cut in half. Once Dexter had the bridge connection set up, pointing them in the general direction the message had been sent from, it was really just a matter of saying the magic words and letting Freakazoid take over.

Easy as pie! R-right?

"…F-Freak I'm almost there, once we're in we can save the Chip, right? And then we—" the little geek paused verbally, leaning back a bit from the screen, not looking anywhere because he was trying to look 'in' himself. It had gotten strangely…quiet all of a sudden.

"….Freakazoid?" He whispered.

No answer.

Dexter bit his lip, all the while his fingers had been tapa taping across keys almost as fast Freakazoid himself did, though with much more order and rhythm. The silence was unnerving. His head has never quiet. Freakazoid was never _not_ thinking.

So he was hiding what he was thinking. Dexter closed his eyes, took several deep, slow breaths, and forced his mind and body to relax…

_**F!**_

Freakazoid didn't _want_ to go home. Like, he really really did not want to go back into the internet at all. No. Big n with a little o, _no_!

Because home **wasn't** the internet. It was, it was the house on Finikulee Fnikulye Ave, it was up the stairs and second door on the right, (watch the carpeting its coming up there,) and home had a door that swelled in the summer and wouldn't shut. It was faded paint and a fridge that had food in it! It was homemade hot chocolate when Dexter was begged and coerced into making it, even if it was 3 in the morning. Home was a single hand me down bed and a room with one window and a wonderful, well loved and taken care of computer whose tower whirred into the night and it had a webcam Freak could use to watch over the rest of the room. Home had a tubby cat that only liked the two of them, because it knew they were two people, but Freak still must have smelled like Dex enough. Freakazoid knew of the saying 'home is where the heart is' but his saying was 'heart is where the home keys are,' since he didn't have a heart and he was more energized ones and zeroes, being the glitch of the Pinnacle Chip. That's right, raw data, binary. Freakazoid was just _binary_, when you stripped away the mask, and the logo and the cool hair and…and Dexter. Freakazoid had nothing on himself.

Well, scratch that. Freak certainly had Dexter's Douglas heart, (He did, because it was beating and he could hear it all the time now again, yay!) so maybe, Freak supposed to himself rather quietly for once, if Dexter was the one with what Freak had …than…than _Dexter_ was Freakazoid's home.

Not, not that wide, sterile _fake_ place that was _copies_ and words and images. Nothing was real. It was data. It was ones and zeros and coding and lines.

In the present, Freazkazoid say heavily on his sofa and held his head, staring gloomily off into space and recalling old files he'd had in storage. Ah, there they were…

That…place…

The internet. The ex-home he'd escaped from with help from Dexter's Pinnacle Chip. The place that controlled him and made him workworkwork and no play because THAT made Jack a dull boy and Dexter didn't like the movie _Psycho_ so Freak never forced him to watch it ever. Because Freakazoid was a nice guy like that, of course. Oh, sure before Dexter and the Pinnacle Chip Freak hadn't known what he was missing, all he'd known was an empty vast mass that was everything and nothing at once. And that he was it. It moved with the real world but Freak didn't get to see it really, he didn't even know he was Freakazoid. He was just _It_. And being an 'It' is no fun, even if he could do anything he freaking wanted, he couldn't do _what_ he wanted. He'd been too busy asking how high when the Core of the internet said 'jump.' To put it nicely. The grass is always greener on the other side of the computer screen. He'd been like that from the very beginning, for as long as he could remember. Until suddenly there was a…wave…and a disruption that startled the It on a normal December the 25th. There was something tiny and fragile and breathing—oh it had been breathing! It had a pulse—a heart! Animals had hearts, The It had known that much. …well now how had an animal gotten in here? _Interesting_! The It craved to know more about this sudden animal, because the internet is always supposed to grow.

And the animal, making an awful lot of strange noises that It later learned were 'yells' had been floating and flailing and It thought it was strange the tiny real animal didn't know what to do. But It was also curious, and there was a funny tugging sensation It had felt about the animal. Oh it was a human too! Well, _humans_ had made It! All humans were good then, It tried to reason. (He'd learn he was wrong when he became Freakazoid, but you know that story.) And as Fate would have it, the small human landed on one of the message transceivers It used to access the furthest reaches of Itself. So the It, the internet, the core, bright and sizzling, called on a circuit to bring the human close to meet It. What did humans call the act—oh shaking hands! Yes!

The It never got to.

The tiny form of Dexter Douglas collided with Itself, and though neither of them knew what to do something pushed them both into each other very firmly, and the It didn't see how all of Itself could even hope to FIT in that little body of the animal, the science must be impossible—

And then all of a sudden it had, and everything clicked into place and thank god Dexter was there, because his body breathed for him when Freak forgot to. He heard the first 'noise' ever in his life that day, and it was just as wonderful and amazing as he'd been imagining it would be. It had been Dexter's voice.

_This is s-so freaky!_

_Freaky?_ Oh, oh another voice! Imagine his surprise when he'd discovered he'd made that noise. He could _speak_! Was he a _'he?'_ the internet pondered for a moment. Oh but he must be, his tiny human was! He was a male human, yes, that was the word.

_Freaky—am I Freaky? Is that me? I have a __name__!? Did you __name__ me!? Did you know some hummingbirds beat their wings 55 times a second? Ohh I have a name! I'm real! Freaky—Freakyzoid! _

…_Freakazoid…?_ Came a soft, tired mumble as the voice faded softly. But the Freakazoid was just getting started.

_Freakazoid! I'm Freakazoid!_

He had a body! Arms and legs and HAIR and skin! He had eyes and a mouth and he could SEE and HEAR and he was grinning hugely for some reason, because the human's system files said 'when you feel happy emotion(s) take action of: smile.' So Freakazoid did, oh it was wonderful! Dexter had fallen silent after that, exhausted mine passing out but Freakazoid was already rocketing off, searching for the computer that had brought him and this tiny human together, wanting to thank that computer, and wanting to Get the hell OUT of dodge and see all the Real World had to offer. Oh—and a snowcone!

And the rest they say…is history.

Freakazoid flopped against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes, trying to forget what was too painful or…scary…and what was good and right in his world. What if when he went back in with Dexter, to take care of his bug, the internet tried to take him from Dexter and, and put him back as the Core again? He didn't want to be an It!

And this is how Dexter found him, walking quietly into the Freakazone (the door always gave at his touch, Freakazoid never locked his other half out) oh, he knew his geek was coming at the same time Dexter decided to, so Freak wasn't surprised. But he couldn't stop the manic runaway train of thought as he sat there still, but his processors collapsed into a jumble of whats ifs and oh noes and I don't _want_ to!'

"….Freak? Are you okay?"

"….hn-what? Oh, oh hi Dexxy!" he grinned, patting the sofa. "Have a seat!"

Dexter did so, right next to him, and as he got closer Freak's thrumming high wired thoughts started slowing just a tiny bit, his frayed edges soothed by Dexter's simple appearance and earnest, fretting look. Freak didn't _want_ him to worry but he wasn't going to lie, it was nice Dexter worried for him.

He'd never known what that was like till Dexter had done it.

The internet certainly didn't giving a flying rat's ass.

"Freak…?"

"Yah-huh?"

"I get the feeling…you want to help the Chip but you're….somethings wrong, Freakazoid." His clever human.

"_We_ have to go in there, right? I m-mean…I don't want you to have to go alone, Freakazoid." Came a soft whisper, but of course Freak has super hearing, and the small voice makes him turn his head toward the sound, meeting his little geek's eyes.

"Who, me? Aw Dex you know I can do anything!" he grinned widely. But it was a pipe dream that this pathetic wide joke of a grin would fool the thin boy before him.

"I know you can, Freakazoid, you're a super hero—" "Yep!" "But you _know_ you don't have to do anything alone if you don't want to."

Well THAT shut him up.

For a long time Freakazoid stared at him, unblinkingly. (Computer glitches don't blink, after all.)

"…I know, Dex." He managed a small smile that was honest this time. "I know."

"…good." Dexter looked a little less worried, but not by much.

"…you're awesome buddy, you know that?" Freak grinned when the geek blinked at him with big eyes behind his glasses.

"I—oh, t-thank you uh, y-you are too Freak." Freakazoiod chuckled at the soft pink that spread over the geek's cheeks, as he ducked his head like a little turtle, unused to the complimenting tone Freak often used on him. Jeez, he was like a timid little bunny_. Freak's_ timid little bunny though.

"Just…just you promise me to stay safe, okay Dexxy?" Freakazoid wished his voice didn't sound so small and weak to his own ears; Freakazoid was many things after all, but weak and small wasn't one of them.

But Dexter smiled that warm, earnest smile that did funny things to Freak's insides without the little geek even knowing it, and said "Of course Freakazoid, I'll be careful, and you'll be there too, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Good, yeah, good. I mean if you're not with me I'm kinda…well out here I kinda go bonkers—" "That wasn't your fault!" Freak smiled at the earnest statement from Dex. "And in there, without you and stuff…well I don't think it'd be very good for me. I just wouldn't be Freakazoid without you, you know?" He tried telling him, he did. But the only way Freak knew how to. Point blank and obvious but…so broad a statement it was missed, sort of.

"…oh, well, I, I wouldn't be me either…w-without you Freakazoid." Freak smiled softly, but he had a feeling his little geek had missed the terrifying truth in his words; they weren't just said out of love. Ah well.

"Thanks Dexxy…" The crazed hero murmured, knowing that his normal crazy was nothing compared to the frantic upheaval he felt when he Dexter wasn't safely in his line of sight. God he just needed Dexter Douglas safe, and then the world could keep spinning. He hoped on some level Dexter knew that, and maybe he did, or maybe his telekinesis was acting up again, because a thin hand with spindly thin fingers touched his shoulder and those blue and brown eyes searched him worriedly. Freak managed a faint smile.

"I can't…yanno, lose you again, buddy." The smile fell. "...I'm _not_ strong enough to do that." He admitted.

And Dexter shrugs his shoulders a little bit, nodding and letting Freakazoid wrap him up tight in a hug.

"You know I don't think either of us are for that Freakazoid." Dexter murmured against his super suit, nudging his nose into it for a moment. "I couldn't lose you either."

_**F!**_

In fact, Dexter had just promised himself he wouldn't.

He didn't care if it was selfish. Let it be so. The world was _boring_ and full of hurt and rather gray without the vibrant, loud superhero that had housed himself in his mind. So Dexter _knew_ he couldn't try and mess with that again. The world needed Freakazoid, but maybe not as quite bad as Dexter Douglas did.

"…your call, Freakazoid." Dex spoke softly, opening his eyes in the front of the computer in the library, a thin finger poised over the delete key so a large gloved hand could bop it as soon as he materialized.

_(Naw, Dexxy,)_ came a warm fond response_. (…S'always your call, buddy. I'm with ya.)_

Dexter smiled softly, ducking his head. "Right…well…Freak out!"

Dex felt the pull, it was a simple as him going in, and Freakazoid coming out. It never hurt. It sort of felt like rolling over. There was a _tnk!_ noise of a key being hit and sizzling lights as they surged into the Internet, headed for the Chip and 2.0.

_**F!**_

Freak's boots hit the ground of the internet just as Dexter felt his shoes do the same. That was new. Dexter never felt what Freakazoid did—and oh…

"….ah…" Dexter stared around in awe, then over to his other half who was currently being a whole all by himself! Right next to him!

"W-we can..split?" Dex breathed in wonder. He lifted his own two hands, looked himself over abit, then over to the tall superhero, who turned his head toward him and beamed.

"Sure can! In here anyway. I'm still with ya—" Freak appeared to concentrate.

_(We can still do this!)_ Dex jumped a bit at the mental noise, unprepared for it. "But there's a limit. Like Wi-Fi range Dex! Real simple!"

"Ah, okay. Uhm, well that's cool…" Dexter wondered, a little vaguely, if this Internet splitting was an obvious thing, why Freak had never mentioned it before. It seemed like they were real enough to touch and interact, and Dex thought this would be something his hero would jump at the chance of telling him about. Oh well, the thought must have just slipped his mind. Or got lost somewhere, you never knew with Freakazoid.

"Init!? Now c'mon, you traced the IP, looks like it came from somewhere by one of the newest Dark Internet sectors." Freak pointed ahead of them, walking down a long stretch of panel maybe about the size of a paved road.

"I…the what?" But Dex followed obediently, thankful Freak slowed his hero's stride so that those with matchstick legs like his could keep up.

"The Dark Internet Dexxy! You know what that is, c'mon!" Freak laughed, patting him on the back. Dex only stumbled a step, righted himself and fixed his glasses as he nodded.

"O-oh, right of course…" Something still felt…off though.

The dark internet was…bad. To be honest, it wasn't good _or_ bad, it was just simply there, lying wasted and dead and unused. It wasn't like darknet or deep webs, since those were technically hard-to-find websites or secretive networks that spider webbed across the back of the Internet like so many underground tunnels and had more back doors than fronts. But they were reachable, certainly to a computer geek like Dexter, he'd used them himself a couple times, mostly to avoid something though or to lose a virus trying to track his computer. He'd never done it for anything immoral of course, and admittedly he'd also once asked Freak to deal with a particularly widespread virus, so it didn't hurt anyone else. (Freak had done so of course, cheerfully flicking it away like a human would an insect.) The dark Internet was a part of the internet that had decayed to the point it was unusable, unfixable…and hardly accessible.

At least by conventional means.

Good thing Freakazoid was so far from conventional he'd come back around the other way by now, Dexter mused to himself with a tiny smile.

"Once we can find the portion of dead internet my stupid bug hid in, we can drive him out; and get him once and for all, and save the Chip." Freak muttered, and Dex swallowed, wondering how well that would end. But something still rather strange.

"The….dark internet? Freakazoid, how can that be a, a place, I-I mean shouldn't it just be, erhm…well…data…?" He finished rather lamely; see a strange look in his alter egos eyes.

"You'd think so Dexxy, but look around…there's…_stuff_ here. Solid. You're standing on something solid, right?"

"O-oh, well that's true…even if it is uhm, rather blue gray. And light up." He mumbled in wonder, looking around at the huge digital world they were in.

"Yeah, so, same basic principle as outside, there's roads and rest stops and things moving and not moving. It's advanced but only in its own way, yanno?"

"Erh, no I don't follow…" Dex said meekly, watching a nanobyte that looked a bit like the ones from Tron flutter by him. Huh. Dex wondered if the idea was coincidence or not, and as he looked up he also wondered if he was really seeing a giant statue of a _Sphinx_ go by. And that just made him wonder…what ELSE existed in the internet, where _anything_ that the human mind had thought of was in there, somewhere. The good and…bad.

"Well… oh! I know, it's like you Dexxy!" Freak proclaimed brightly, still trying to describe what was wrong with the Internet's growth.

"I…pardon?"

"No, no, it's like this, like you know how you started off all itty and a squishy and with a teeny brain and body to match, yeah? And Duncan did too, even though I joke bout him being hatched?"

"Of course, everyone starts out as a baby."

"Exactly! Well except for me, but not everyone grows up the same, so well, the internet grew up like _you_, not like Duncan!"

Dexter stares at him. And tries to think Freak's statement through, which not many people did, admittedly.

"Duncan…works out a lot." The geek spoke slowly, it helped him think. "And he's uh, bigger and has more muscles and energy…but I'm" he looked down at this body, his baggy clothes hiding the average, boring figure and pale skin. "…well I'm not…"

"Noo but you also read and do math, and you can think awesome things and Dex, your brain never sleeps! It's awesome!"

"…Right. But I barely passed gym and so—oh!…the internet hasn't grown…_evenly_ you mean?"

"Yes!"

"…well I guess that makes sense. It's like playing pokemon but only raising psychic types instead of fighting, too." Dexter tried.

"Correcto-mundo Dexxy! And you remember MILNET right—actually wait no you wouldn't," Freak laughs, "My bad, anyway, bear in mind most of the Dark Internet is made up of old military sites."

"That makes sense," Dexter nodded, moving to the right when a 3D box shot past him, off to somewhere behind them. "The internet was originally created for government use after all…of course they'd have the oldest sites from them."

"Yeah, and when they were done with them, insteada knowing how to delete stuff all proper like, they just sorta left 'em. To sit. An' rot. Like those grapes that one time in the fridge ya almost ate." Dex hoped Freak didn't see his blush. But Freak just rattled on.

"Then things got bad. And bigger, actually. The internet's evolving itself too much to pay attention to the old, washed out stuff. A lotta hackers can utilize the old dead web to do stuff that's illegal, well by human standards." Freak commented with a small smile.

"…human standards?" Dex parroted.

"And really, ARPNET's been decommissioned for a while, at least that slowed some of the decaying down. But there's _plenty_ of dead sites with things that **didn't** die who lost their homes. Like in _Wreck-It Ralph_, when a game gets unplugged an' the characters went to that Game Central Station place? Like that! Anyway, like I was saying, you gotta watch out cause nowadays it's not just military sites the Dark Internet's dragged down. All of the data we've got from 1989 and before that is mostly gone, Dex, it's a little weird."

…_we?_ Dex thought to himself, taking mental notes as his hero rambled.

"And they go…to the Dark Internet?" Dex tried. "So they're not, gone gone?"

"Noo they're gone alright. It's a one way ride with the DI. Stuff goes in…" Freak made a hand motion, wincing a bit. "…And doesn't come out."

"…except the….except 2.0 found a way to. Or at least broadcast from the dead portion of the web." Dex murmured softly.

Freak's face fell. "Yeah. Except that. A part of me. Too strong for my own good." He mumbled sadly. Dexter bit his lip and stuck close to the superhero, trying to comfort best he could.

They stayed like that for a long while, walking along. Not speaking, because they didn't have to, and it wasn't because they were using the mental link. They were walking, looking for the Chip and Dex was also trying to keep an eye out for 2.0. He had an inkling Freak was too, especially when something large and heavy flew close to Dexter and before the geek could react he was staring at a large red back, as if Freak's defensive stance alone could protect Dexter from anything.

Well…Freakazoid probably could. Dexter had that, and much more, faith in him when it came to stuff like that.

"…getting close." Freak suddenly mumbled.

Before Dexter could ask if he meant to the DI, the Chip, or 2.0, they rounded a corner and nearly collided with a door.

"…oh."

It was rather plain looking, as far doors for the internet went.

"Is that the door to..?" Dex wasn't sure what worried him more, a dead decayed Internet with rampart…things…or 2.0. Or a Freakazoid 2.0 that knew how to USE the Dark Internet. Alright, that last one was the scarier of the two.

"No, Dexxy, it'll be a sub-room though. Like a mud room before a house." Freak sighed, reaching out to rap the door with a knuckle, as if testing it for some reason.

"So, the door before the door that leads to the Dark Internet."

"Yeah, that."

The little geek swallowed, but didn't move from his place to Freak's left, ever so slightly a step back in the large hero's shadow. Should anything or anyone jump out at them, they would have to answer to Freakazoid's fist first. Very few things came out with nothing broken from one of those punches, if at least not rather dizzy and caught off guard.

The door opened noiselessly at Freak's touch, and though Dex wondered if that was by design, he wasn't given enough time to wonder too long, because in the open, innocent looking gray space sat something square and tall, a lump on the floor that was able to be seen through it.

Dexter's eyes widened as he tried to process.

"…Chip?" Freak mumbled first, taking a step in, Dex's feet following him automatically.

It _was_ the Chip, upon closer inspection. Face down in a heap of its long thin limbs and glowing circuits round its alien like body. Alive and with faint sparks shooting from it to prove it. Oh those couldn't be good—they certainly didn't look it.

"CHIP!" Dexter cried in alarm, running over to the cage without thinking. The Chip was—the Chip was their _friend_, it had seriously _saved their lives_ during the splitting incident, of course Dexter was scared for it.

"Chip are you—" the geek whirled around, startled and a bit wary when he found his protective shadow hadn't followed.

"F-Freakazoid?" The hero glanced at him, almost sheepishly? Dexter tilted his head in askance and confusion.

"Sorry Dexxy, that cage is charged with…well, you know." The hero smiled tiredly, waving from his distance. He'd taken a few steps after Dex when the geek had just run off, but from his position even the geek could see the way Freak's hair was flopping a bit, his posture starting to lower. His skin was a paler blue than usual. Any closer and Freak's state could get worse, and quickly. Dexter bit his lip and cast around, eyes widening when he spotted the complex looking box on top of the cage, a green button glowing. Dex glanced at the metal of the bars, touching them gently and while nothing negative happened to him he did confirm their make of graphite and…well, that made sense. Freakazoid and his Pinnacle Chip had the same weaknesses. And even from there it was affecting him…than the Chip had be in worse shape, oh gosh no wonder it wasn't responding.

"Alright Freak…just take it easy okay? Uhm, m..maybe I can find a way to turn it off…I don't know how else we'll get the Chip to wake up."

"Be careful." Freak warned and Dexter smiled softly and nodded, walking around the cage and being careful not to move out of Freak's line of vision.

…_ex….er…_ H-huh? Was he hearing things? He looked over at Freakazoid, than at the mass on the ground, because he'd thought he'd heard the Chip. The form stirred and Dexter startled.

"Chip!"The tiny geek gripped two bars of the cage, leaning against them as if he had Freak's super strength.  
_  
..on't…trap…_

"…Chip? Chip, c-can you hear me? It's, it's me, Dexter! Freakazoid and I—" the bars rippled suddenly at this touch.

"Wha—h-hey! _Freak_!" He yelped without thinking, but of course it's too late, and even though Freak jerks to life at his call he's soon slowed and ends up hunched over, hand braced on his knees as he watches in horror.

"_DEXTER!"_ Dexter doesn't ever remember hearing Freakazoid's voice with as much fear as he had then, but then he's got other things on his mind as the cage bars fizzles out of 'existence' and he falls right through the bars, landing on the cold graphite bottom of the pen. He had a terrifying thought he wouldn't be able to move, but it seemed the weakness wasn't affecting him. They were just real bars now that hadn't been solid a minute ago. He sprung up and whirled around, holding his hands out.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!" he rushed, catching those big worried blue eyes until they relaxed and Freak stopped shifting from boot to boot like he wanted to rush in and get Dexter himself.

"…Chip?" Dex murmured, twisting round to inspect the crumpled, unmoving form. "H-he's not answering Freak! He did before, he tried to warn me this was a trap but, but now he won't…" Dexter swung back around, looking at the hero helplessly. Freak frowned a bit and looked around them.

"Dex, ya think you can use your telephanesis to break the bars?"

"My…" oh. The little geek blinked, lifting his head to look around at the cage. "…uhm..I _think_ I can…"

"Atta boy Dexxy, ya don't know if you don't try, right? I know you can do it!" Freak gave him a grin that he probably didn't feel, but the reassuring easy going smile did wonders for Dexter's attitude, his thin shoulders relaxing. If _Freakazoid_ believed he could…the thought made Dexter's heart sort of flutter in amazement and wonder. Freak and the Chip were counting on him, even if he wasn't a hero he had to try and do something!

So Dexter doesn't think—it's startlingly easy, because he's so worried for the Chip and because _his hero believes in him_—he just pushes, opening his hands as a blue glow surrounded them and his eyes. And with one flex of his mind the bars buckle and the box _slams_ into the circuit board ground, crunching and frizting as its frame crumpled and the negative ions stopped flowing. He blinks the blue out of his eyes and the world sways. He figures he's just going to crumple, when suddenly aware he's not hit the floor yet, and is in fact being held by something large and red and, o-oh, right.

"Freak…?"

"Yeah buddy, I gotcha," Freak rumbled. "You're okay."

Dexter smiled weakly and took a breath. Of course he was if Freakazoid was there. He wound an arm round Freak's neck and told himself it was for support, so he didn't fall from the hero's arms. Only after reassuring himself that Freak was okay Dexter tore his gaze from the loud logo on the hero's chest and cast around worriedly.

"Chip? Chip—"

_I am here, Dexter Douglas. _The thin alien form that Pinnacle Chip had crafted stared back at him with red eyes, not unlike the color of Freakazoid's super suit. Despite the less than human gaze the geek relaxed with a relived smile when he saw it was standing there emotionlessly, the same towering height as Freak's.

"Oh, thank goodness you're okay!"

…_Yes, I am. Thank you. _The Chip looked mildly surprised (most of its emotions were mild, come to think of it) but nodded, it didn't really seem used to any emotional interaction aside from the Freakazoid, who was arguably a bit too emotional at times to be taken seriously, or was so overwhelming the Chip didn't notice. Perhaps it was simply the Pinnacle Chip didn't know what to do at all with someone being concerned for its welfare, and that thought made Dexter feel bad for it.

"H-huh? Oh, of course, I, ah, i-it was nothing…" Dex said meekly, shyly motioning to Freakazoid that he had the feeling back in his legs now and could probably stand. Freak pouted but set him down gently before him. A hand found its way to the small of his back when Dex wobbled a bit, but thankfully remained upright.

"Chip…before I fell in I heard you say that was a trap, right?" Dexter asked warily, thankful for Freakazoid looming behind.

_I did, yes. It was. _The Chip was inspecting the remains of the cage Dex had split and bent open with his mind.

"2.0…2.0 set a trap for us a-and used you as bait than?" Dexter looked mildly horrified, and then confused when the Chip shook its head.

_Negative_. The voice droned. _The glitch that manifested from Freakazoid when you two underwent the splitting set that trap for only __**you**__. _

Suddenly Freak hand an arm round his shoulder and Dexter blinked from the side he was pressed against.

"M-me!?" Dexter merely squawked. "But then why did you send me that message?" he glanced at the Chip with hurt eyes but the Chip looked surprised.

_I did no such thing._ It stated plainly, without a hint of hurt. The Chip truly hadn't. It made Dexter's stomach sort of curdle as the sudden realization struck him, and judging by the look on Freak's face he'd figured it out too.

"…then…"

"Then that asshole must've…ah, m'so _stupid_, I shoulda checked before I—" A hand rested on his bicep, Dexter soothed him quietly.

"It's okay Freakazoid it's not just your fault, we were both too worried about the Chip to think anything else…"

_That's what 2.0 had been banking on._

"…put his money on the right horse." Freak begrudgingly admitted, folding his arms in frustration as Dexter stared at his shoes and shook his head, trying to understand.

_We need to move, Dexter, Freakazoid. Follow me. _

"We do…?"

"A moving target's harder to hit Dexxy. Plus we gotta find the entrance to the DI and close it, since the door we just came through is gone I bet."

"Oh, right…" The geek tagged after the large forms, Freak smiling at him in an effort Dex knew to cheer him up. Dex shot one of his own weak, shy ones back and wondered why all heroes had to be so amazing.

It was slow going, if not a bit interesting. Everything was so bright and humming, as information moved across the super highway below, above and to their right and left. It seemed the bigger the information the bigger route it got, the walkway that rose above the two huge highways with things going forward and backward pulsed below Dexter's shoes as we walked. Google did a lot of moving, while other search engines had smaller sized carrying devices. Tunnels swirled in, dropped something off and pulled back, while portals opened and closed at touches or seemingly at random.

Even with so much to look at and learn, Dexter couldn't help his soft worried frown as he walked with his head slightly down, just staring at the blue gray panels under them as he let his legs follow the Chip automatically.

"…I just don't get why 2.0 would want me..." Dex mumbled gloomily to Freak as he walked beside him.

_You're the vessel used to house—_

"He ain't a vessel!" Dexter jumped at Freak's little outburst and looked at him with wide eyes, turning his head back to the Chip when it continued smoothly on.

…_.body used to allow Freakazoid's physical manifestation in the real world. Of course you'd be coveted. That and your mental strength alone is enough to challenge and beat anything that comes across your path._

"…so if we're not connected you can't go, go out into the world Freak?"

"….nope."

"But then….if you and 2.0 both generally the same sort of—" "Hey!" "I mean that in the kindest way possible, Freakazoid, you know I do. You aren't the same where it counts," Dexter soothed without missing a beat, "and then THAT means 2.0 can't get out into the real world either without….oh…" Dex swallowed a bit and so what if he edged a tiny bit closer to Freakaoid's safe form.

_Which is why the violently unstable side of the Freakazoid tried to trap you. If it did succeed in taking you over Dexter Douglas, this version of Freakazoid with us would not be able to stop it._ The Chip sort of seemed to…sneak a glance at Freakazoid and him, though Dexter only blinked. _And 2.0 would have also antagonized you both to the point where a battle would start, if 1.0 lost you._

Freak snorted and crossed his arms, kicking an empty see through cube as it floated by. "Well that's the way to go about it then."

"H-huh? Oh, Freak, please don't get into fights on, on my account…I mean, if it can be helped, try to avoid it….please?"

Freak cast him a look and sighed.

"Yeah Dexxy….whatever you say."

Dexter gave him a relived, warm smile at the words, thanking him. Jeez…

How this kid thought he was nothing when he was so obviously Freakazoid's Something, Freak would never, ever understand.


End file.
